


Just a Moment

by aquariuslover



Series: Expectations! [13]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, Infinite (Band), SHINee, Star Trek, Super Junior
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-19 00:08:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14862947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquariuslover/pseuds/aquariuslover
Summary: Ancient technology on a deserted planet forces some crew members to stay within arm's reach of each other...literally. As Jaejoong's pregnancy progresses, Jaejoong's telepathic and emphatic abilities fade. Startling admissions are made, and something is stirring on the ship, much to Yunho's shock.





	1. Chapter 1

A flick to his forehead woke WooHyun from a deep, peaceful sleep. He looked up to find SungGyu standing over him.  
  
A huge, sleepy grin appeared on WooHyun’s face as he looked up at his favorite person in the entire universe. “Good morning!”  
  
“Do you want to go eat breakfast with me?”  
  
WooHyun, who had gotten the bed last night, sat up. “Yes, I’d love to.”  
  
SungGyu scrunched up his face in dislike at the mention of love. “I wouldn’t use the word love to describe mess hall food.”  
  
“That isn’t what I meant,” WooHyun explained as he swung his legs off the bed.  
  
“I know.”  
  
WooHyun stood up and amended his statement, “I would enjoy eating breakfast with you.”  
  
“Are you sure you don’t have to be in sickbay early?”  
  
“No, I want to go to the mess hall and eat breakfast. Dr. Cho said I have been studying too much. He is making me take a break from it, and I get my own patients now,” WooHyun explained, proudly.  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yeah, just a few.”  
  
“That’s good.”  
  
“They are just minor; bumps, and bruises, and well…”  
  
“What?”  
  
WooHyun shrugged. “One of the patients Dr. Cho assigned to me is a huge hypochondriac…he’s challenging to say the least.”  
  
SungGyu didn’t hesitant a moment as he named, “Ensign SungYeol.”  
  
WooHyun’s mouth dropped open.  
  
“Don’t worry, you didn’t break any confidences,” SungGyu quickly replied, understanding the other man’s concern. “When the captain had me doing tours of all the departments on the ship I did a stay in Astro Physics.”  
  
WooHyun’s smile reappeared. “That must have been interesting.”  
  
“It was a trial in patience.”  
  
“Unfortunately, he is my patient.”  
  
“You can handle him,” SungGyu said confidently.  
  
“I hope you are right.”  
  
“I am. Get dressed, so we can go to breakfast,” SungGyu ordered as headed out of the bedroom.  
  
WooHyun, who was only dressed in pajama bottoms, asked, “Are any of your friends going to be joining us for breakfast?”  
  
SungGyu stopped at the doorway and shrugged. “I don’t know.”  
  
“Do you ever invite them to eat breakfast with you?” WooHyun asked as he walked up to the ensign. WooHyun was very eager to meet SungGyu’s friends and find out more about his roommate.  
  
“No, if they are there we will eat together. If they aren’t, no big deal…I don’t require companionship to digest my breakfast.”  
  
WooHyun brightened and nudged SungGyu with his shoulder. “But you woke me up to go with you.”  
  
“I did,” SungGyu replied, sounding slightly startled by his own behavior.  
  
A very happy WooHyun informed the other man, “That’s because we are BFFs.”  
  
“What does that acronym stand for?”  
  
“Best Friends Forever,” Woohyun explained with a huge smile upon his face.  
  
SungGyu let out a chuckle. “You are so strange.”  
  
“That’s why you like me.”  
  
“Do I?”  
  
“Yes, you like me best.”  
  
“I do?”  
  
“What do like better than me?” a smug WooHyun asked.  
  
A still chuckling SungGyu started to walk away. “I like sl—”  
  
“Sleep doesn’t count!”  
  
  
***********************  
  
“You are awake.”  
  
Jaejoong, who was lying on his back in their large bed, let out a yawn and then replied, “He has the hiccups.”  
  
Yunho, who was already dressed in his uniform, sat down on the bed beside his lover. “Again?”  
  
“Yes, again.”  
  
“Sorry about that,” Yunho sympathized, reaching out to run his fingers through Jaejoong’s blond hair.  
  
“Nothing to be sorry about, it’s totally normal for human babies…and apparently half human babies,” Jaejoong responded, pushing the covers down off of him to expose his large belly. “What is the temperature in here?”  
  
Yunho got up quickly and announced, “I was just leaving.”  
  
Jaejoong sat up with a visible pout on his face. “You’re smothering me!”  
  
“I’m not…I’m not, it was just too cold. When I am in bed with you, and touching you the bond keeps me all warm…and free of frostbite, but I can’t get dressed with it that cold in here. Parts of me were about to freeze off, important parts! Parts I am very fond of. Parts  _you_  are very fond of.”  
  
Jaejoong rubbed his rounded belly. “How hot is it?”  
  
“It’s not hot.”  
  
“It is hot!”  
  
“It isn’t hot.”  
  
“Computer, what is the temperature in this room?” Jaejoong demanded of the ship’s computer.  
  
“It is 21.2 centigrade,” the computer promptly answered.  
  
“Traitor,” Yunho whispered under his breath to his treacherous ship.  
  
“No wonder I am so hot! Yunho, if you have not noticed I am fat now—thanks to you! I can’t tolerate heat!” Jaejoong complained as he fanned himself with his hand. “I’ve never been fat before! I hate being fat!”  
  
“My Love, you are not fat…you are pregnant,” Yunho calmly told his mate as he inched toward the doorway.  
  
“You think I don’t know that? I know that! Just because I am pregnant doesn’t mean I am not fat! I am fat because I am pregnant! I am pregnant because of you! So I am fat because of you!”  
  
Yunho made it to the doorway to their bedroom and ordered, “Computer, decrease the temperature to 4 centigrade.”  
  
Jaejoong sighed in relief as the cold air filled the cabin. “Thank you.”  
  
“I am going to go.”  
  
“What’s the hurry?” a suddenly friendly Jaejoong asked as his bad mood completely vanished.  
  
“It’s freezing in here and I am meeting Yoochun for breakfast,” Yunho reminded his mate.  
  
“Oh, your attempt to mingle with the little people…so sweet of you,” Jaejoong said as he lowered himself back down on the bed.  
  
Yunho fought down his amusement. “Yes, but it isn’t as if I am the Prince of Joong.”  
  
“No,” Jaejoong agreed. “I am going back to sleep, Changmin’s hiccups have stopped.”  
  
“Sweet dreams,” Yunho told his lover as he slipped out of the bedroom. Almost immediately the main doors to their quarters chirped alerting him to the fact that someone was at the door. He strolled toward the doors causing them to whoosh open.  
  
Yoochun, who had been standing at the entrance, jumped back as the chill hit him. “Your balls must be snowballs.”  
  
Yunho shivered and quickly exited his quarters. “They feel like it, believe me.”  
  
“How do you stay in there?”  
  
“Our bond keeps me warm as long as we are in contact,” Yunho explained as they walked down the corridor. “I keep hoping this little phase of his will be over soon, like all the others.”  
  
“I liked the phase where he was making sweets all the time. He’s one hell of a cook; I have to give him credit.”  
  
“You know if you keep on stealing our food, he’s going to end up killing you,” Yunho warned.  
  
“He wouldn’t.”  
  
“Oh, he is already thinking of ways to do it. He was just saying yesterday how you are taking food out of his mouth…and therefore depriving Changmin of nutrients…so therefore killing you would be a way of protecting Changmin and allowed by the laws of the Joong.”  
  
Yoochun cringed. “Dully noted.”  
  
Yunho smiled and kept on walking with Yoochun down the corridor until they came upon Commander Cho. “Commander, are you going to breakfast?”  
  
“I was just going to grab something and bring it back to my quarters.”  
  
“You should join us,” Yunho told him.  
  
Kyuhyun nodded his head and stated, “I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”  
  
“Still hiding from the ex-hubby?” Yoochun asked.  
  
“I am contesting the divorce, so he isn’t my ex yet,” Kyuhyun said, quickly correcting Commander Yoochun. “But to answer your question—yes, I am still avoiding him.”  
  
“So how does contesting the divorce work?” Yoochun asked. “It isn’t like you can go back to Earth and settle it?”  
  
Commander Cho joined them on their way to breakfast, and explained, “Actually, if we had been married on Earth it would be easier for him to divorce me, but fortunately for me we were married on Baylor and it is much more difficult to get a divorce there.”  
  
“Really? Does Baylor approve of extramarital affairs?” Yoochun couldn’t keep from asking.  
  
“I did not cheat on him…not physically,” Kyuhyun replied uncomfortably.  
  
Yoochun snorted. “Not this year.”  
  
Kyuhyun sighed. “I am well aware of what I have done.”  
  
“Don’t you mean—who you have done?” Yoochun snickered and asked.  
  
“Can we discuss ship’s business?” Yunho asked in a curt tone. “We are the senior officers on this ship. Can we at least pretend to give off some semblance of professionalism?”  
  
“I am not ribbing him publically,” Yoochun reminded the captain as they neared the mess hall. “I will be purely professional in the company of others.”  
  
This time Kyuhyun snorted. “That would be very unlike you.”  
  
“I can be professional,” Yoochun insisted as they entered the mess hall. Once inside the mess hall Yoochun came to an immediate stop. “This is not good.”  
  
Both Yunho and Kyuhyun turned to face the engineer standing between.  
  
“What?” Yunho questioned.  
  
Yoochun held up one arm and pointed to a table where only Ensign SungGyu and Doctor Nam were seated. They were sitting side by side with not even an inch of space separating them, and they both were more consumed with their conversation than the food in front of them. “He’s lost to us…our bright shiny boy.”  
  
“Why would you say that?” Yunho asked as he headed toward the food replicators with the other two senior officers following behind him. “They are just talking.”  
  
“He’s totally smitten. I know the look. He’s been caught.”  
  
Kyuhyun kept quiet and ordered his breakfast.  
  
“There is nothing wrong with being smitten—or being caught…it’s actually quite enjoyable,” Yunho stated as he collected his plate of food. “It’s healthy to form relationships.”  
  
“I have relationships,” Yoochun insisted, pointed at Yunho. “I am friends with you, and…I tolerate the rest of humanity.”  
  
“You wound me,” Kyuhyun said drily as they headed toward a table.  
  
“Oh, I kinda like you…I suppose,” Yoochun jested. “I like you better than your soon-to-be ex. I shall take your side in the divorce.”  
  
“We are not divorced,” Kyuhyun reminded the engineer as he sat down.  
  
“Not yet,” Yoochun amended as he sat down beside the captain.  
  
“We are not going to be,” Kyuhyun replied. “He is upset with me, and I am going to give him time to calm down, and during that time I am going to work on my issues.”  
  
“That sounds like a very good plan,” the captain told his first officer approvingly.  
  
“Maybe you should just take the bull by the—”  
  
“Forgive me, but the day I take relationship advice from you, I’ll willingly sign the divorce papers,” Kyuhyun interrupted to tell the other commander. “And I’ll never willingly sign them.”  
  
“Why, that is rude…” Yoochun paused as a very irritated looking Sungmin entered the mess hall. “Oh, somebody doesn’t look happy at all.”  
  
Yunho shook his head. “You are the biggest gossip I know…well, you, Donghae, and Heechul.”  
  
Kyuhyun agreed, “At least Heechul has the excuse of being insane.”  
  
“I am not a gossip,” Yoochun denied. “I am simply concerned with our Chief of Security…I wonder if he and the Prince are on the outs?”  
  
Kyuhyun side-eyed the engineer and innocently suggested, “Why don’t you go ask him?”  
  
Yoochun stood up from the table with his plate in hand and told them, “I think I will.”  
  
Commander Cho just grinned as Yunho continued to shake his head.  
  
  
*******  
  
  
“Do you mind if I sit down?” Yoochun asked as he sat down at the secluded table at the back of the mess hall that Sungmin was eating at.  
  
“Yes, I do mind.”  
  
“Oh, I am already sitting…so I will stay.”  
  
Sungmin set the silverware he’d been holding down on the table and told the commander more forcibly, “I want to be alone.”  
  
“Why, aren’t you the testy one this morning.”  
  
“Shouldn’t you be sitting with the captain?”  
  
Yoochun leaned over the table and whispered, “But you are all alone, and ever since you kicked Kyuhyun’s ass a month ago…I feel the need to be extra nice to you.”  
  
“Bullshit, what do you really want?”  
  
Yoochun sat straight up in his seat and chastised, “You are in such a mood. I would ask what’s up your ass, but we all know the answer to that question.”  
  
Sungmin glowered and hissed under his breath, “Go now, or I am going to arrange for your recertification…and I will personally over see it…just like I did with Commander Cho.”  
  
“I was just leaving,” Yoochun declared, standing up quickly.  
  
“Too bad,” the voice of Ensign Junsu said from behind Commander Yoochun.  
  
Commander Yoochun turned around to find a smiling Ensign Junsu standing behind him. “Do you mean that?”  
  
Ensign Junsu let out a breath and admitted, “I think I do.”  
  
Ensign Eunhyuk, who was standing beside Junsu, took the other man by the arm. “But he will get over it. Let’s eat.”  
  
“Okay,” Junsu agreed, allowing Eunhyuk to lead him to the table.  
  
A pleasantly surprised Yoochun offered, “You could always eat with me…and the captain. Or perhaps just the two of us could eat together?”  
  
Junsu, who had sat down at the table, smiled up at the commander and told him, “Not today, but maybe some other time.”  
  
A suddenly cheerful Yoochun told Junsu, “Well, I am always free for you…just let me know.”  
  
“I will,” Junsu replied.  
  
“I will hold you to it,” Yoochun told Junsu before turning around to return to the table where the captain and Commander Cho sat.  
  
“What the fuck was that?” a stunned Sungmin questioned, unable to hide his horror.  
  
Ensign Junsu, who was sitting across from the security chief with Eunhyuk, explained, “Eunhyuk and I have decided we are going to be more open minded.”  
  
“When you say open minded…do you mean…do you mean—”  
  
“Yep,” Eunhyuk interrupted to answer. “Lieutenant SooYoung is not going to get with either one of us…and Sulli is unconscious. The captain refuses to open the holodecks up, so unless we plan on limiting our sexual experiences to just masturbation …our options are limited.”  
  
“Having sex with a holograph is still masturbation,” Sungmin reminded his friend.  
  
“But it doesn’t feel like it,” Eunhyuk pointed out.  
  
“It isn’t right to toy with another person’s feelings if you are not sure. You shouldn’t experiment…at the cost of another person’s feelings,” Sungmin told them, unable to hide his displeasure.  
  
“I am not doing that,” Junsu insisted. “I have complicated feelings for Commander Yoochun…I am just not sure what exactly they are.”  
  
Sungmin grabbed his fork and aimed it at the helmsman. “You better be sure before you start something you can’t finish. He might be a slime ball, but he has real feelings for you.”  
  
Junsu leaned back in his seat. “Okay…”  
  
Eunhyuk, who had been closely watching his friend on the other side of the table, asked, “Are you and Siwon having problems?’  
  
“Yes—no…he’s completely honest with me, and he’s done absolutely nothing wrong, but we are not without our problems.”  
  
“But I thought you guys…well…I thought—”  
  
“We date wonderfully and we make perfect friends…however sex isn’t great between us—unless I happen to be in the body of a woman, and then it’s…fantastic. It’s more than fantastic…it’s fucking fantastic.”  
  
“So he’s straight?” Junsu asked.  
  
“I hate that terminology,” Sungmin snapped. “Love between the same genders is not crooked.”  
  
“Of course not,” Junsu quickly agreed.  
  
“I am sorry for snapping at you,” Sungmin apologized, standing up. “I shouldn’t even be talking about this. I just really wanted it to work out…I really did, and I don’t think it is going to. I am going to go now, but do me a favor.”  
  
“Anything,” Junsu, who Sungmin was looking down at, immediately responded.  
  
“Don’t lead Commander Yoochun on…unless you are positive you can go through with it.”  
  
Junsu nodded his head. Sungmin rewarded him with a small smile and then walked away.  
  
Eunhyuk moved his plate of food out of the way and banged his head against the table purposely.  
  
“Stop,” Junsu hissed under his breath. “It isn’t that bad.”  
  
“How can you say that?” Eunhyuk complained, resting his head against the table. “I am not sure I am gay…I can’t initiate anything unless I am sure. I am so  _not_ sure.”  
  
“Look on the bright side…they are having problems. If they weren’t having problems you couldn’t initiate anything even if you wanted to. Problems are good!”  
  
“They are having problems because Siwon isn’t gay!”  
  
“Honestly, he always seemed gay to me.”  
  
“Me too,” Eunhyuk said lifting his head. “But Sungmin did say the sex was great when he was in the body of a woman.”  
  
“But…maybe it was just different for Sungmin then,” Junsu said, reasoning aloud. “Sungmin wasn’t used to being a girl and having girl parts…I hear women can have lots of orgasms. So, maybe it was the newness that Sungmin found exciting. Maybe Siwon wasn’t so fantastic.”  
  
“Good point.”  
  
“Maybe…Siwon isn’t interesting enough in bed? Maybe he is just boring? Maybe Sungmin thinks it’s a sexual preference thing…when really Siwon is just not impressive.”  
  
Eunhyuk brightened. “I am impressive…I am a bottomless pit of energy. Once I get them to the bed, they are always pleased.”  
  
“So you say.”  
  
“It’s true! Prostitutes have even offered to give me my money back.”  
  
Junsu rolled his eyes. “I thought you said they offered to pay you.”  
  
“I never said that,” Eunhyuk denied.  
  
“Yes, you did.”  
  
“I did not.”  
  
“Let’s call Donghae and ask him how many times he’s heard the,  _‘I am so good prostitutes pay me’ tales from you.”_  
  
Eunhyuk slumped. “I might have exaggerated.”  
  
“Yes, I know.”  
  
“But I really am exciting…not boring at all.”  
  
Junsu smiled at his friend and was unable to resist saying, “With women and frogs.”  
  
Eunhyuk’s cheeks reddened. “Don’t go there.”  
  
“Sorry, couldn’t resist…but you owe me!”  
  
“I do,” Eunhyuk conceded. “How are you going to get out of eating with Commander Yoochun?”  
  
“I feel bad for flirting with him now. I wish we had thought of another way to broach the subject with Sungmin…I think I might just have to eat with him.”  
  
“Your flirting was very convincing…I forgot you were acting.”  
  
“Maybe it was not a complete act—I do have those complicated feelings for him,” Junsu told his best friend.  
  
“You do.”  
  
“He seemed so happy.”  
  
“He did.”  
  
Junsu sighed. “I will probably totally regret this.”  
  
“Probably.”  
  
******************  
  
  
  
One week later, WooHyun was on the gym floor taking his first self defense lesson with security. Security clearance was a must if a member of the crew was planning on going on away missions. SungGyu had come to support him, along with his friend L.  
  
WooHyun turned away from Kangin, who was instructing him, to look at SungGyu. The young doctor then lifted up both his hands, shaped them into a heart and pretended to throw it to SungGyu, all the while with a huge smile upon his face.  
  
SungGyu couldn’t keep from laughing and rewarded the young doctor with his own smile, just as huge.  
  
“Dude, did he just throw a heart at you?” an incredulous L asked.  
  
SungGyu shook his head.  
  
“He did,” the young pilot, who was sitting by SungGyu, insisted. “Don’t deny it.”  
  
“It’s a greeting,” SungGyu explained.  
  
L gave SungGyu a doubtful look. “I am sure it is—for lovers.”  
  
SungGyu crossed his legs and stated, “We are not lovers.”  
  
“What are you two exactly?”  
  
“Best friends.”  
  
“Really?” L asked, sounding unconvinced. “You two act like you’re in love.”  
  
SungGyu turned and gave the other man a stern stare. “What do you know about being in love?”  
  
“Nothing,” L quickly answered. “So you are best friends?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“After knowing him…for only eight weeks he’s your best friend?”  
  
SungGyu, whose eyes were on WooHyun, nodded his head. “I can’t explain it…but he is my best friend. I trusted him with my life on Kanzi and also with the captain and Junsu’s life, and even though he was betraying his world…members of his own family, he didn’t fail me.”  
  
“That was pretty cool,” L agreed. “When you say it like that…You seem like such different people though. I haven’t hung out with him that much, but he’s so… _friendly_.”  
  
SungGyu, who was still watching WooHyun, reached out a hand and swatted L’s leg. “I am friendly!”  
  
“You don’t throw hearts at people.”  
  
“I might—I thought he was a doctor,” SungGyu stated as he watched WooHyun handle Kangin with complete ease.  
  
L turned his focus to WooHyun and Kangin and his mouth fell open. “Shit.”  
  
“He’s better than you are,” SungGyu told L.  
  
“And he’s better than you.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
“He’s better than the both of us.”  
  
SungGyu just nodded his head, spellbound by the action taking place on the floor.  
  
L watched as Kangin took a break, and DongWoo took over. “What kind of doctor is he?”  
  
“A kickass doctor,” Junsu, who had arrived unnoticed by the other two men, declared as he sat down on SungGyu’s other side.  
  
“They are best friends for a reason,” a grinning L added. “If you go on away missions together he can protect you and stitch you up. It’s like a two for one deal.”  
  
“Haha, you are so funny,” SungGyu grumbled to L but never took his eyes off WooHyun.  
  
“Ensign DongWoo is more of a match,” Junsu said, still watching the practice. “I guess WooHyun isn’t going to need any further self-defense classes.”  
  
A still amazed SungGyu just shook head.  
  
“I bet he gets to go on away missions soon,” Junsu informed them.  
  
“Yeah,” SungGyu said, controlling his admiration. “Doctors are spared the more rigorous self-defense levels of training. Not that he would have any problem passing them.”  
  
“Well, it looks like his training is over,” L told them. “That was one of the shortest training courses ever.”  
  
Junsu was watching WooHyun, who had just thrown another heart at SungGyu. He laughed and asked SungGyu, “Did he just throw a heart at you?”  
  
L chucked and answered for SungGyu, “Didn’t you know that’s a Kanzi greeting?”  
  
Junsu snorted. “Really? They didn’t seem like heart throwing people to me.”  
  
“They didn’t exactly like us…he had to learn it somewhere,” SungGyu replied, unperturbed. “I don’t mind.”  
  
L fought back a chuckle. “That’s good, because he is teaching DongWoo how to do it now.”  
  
SungGyu just groaned.  
  
**************************  
  
“Visiting her again?”  
  
SooYoung turned from her cousin’s bedside to face Dr. Cho. “Just for a short moment, I’m very busy with the M Class planet we discovered. I just feel badly if I don’t visit her everyday.”  
  
Ryeowook cleared his throat and brought up a subject he had been dreading. “I should have moved her by now.”  
  
“That seems…so final…can we not wait a bit longer?”  
  
“What are we waiting on?” Ryeowook gently asked the new head of the science department,  
  
SooYoung looked away from the doctor and back to her cousin, ignoring his question by asking, “Did you suspect she was bonded with Changmin?”  
  
“At times I did. Changmin was always very relaxed with her, even when he first discovered he was a Joong. Back then Changmin was very unstable and erratic, but Sulli had a calming affect on him. Once he returned to his human form…he still sought her out,” Ryeowook answered, going along with the change in the topic.  
  
“Is that all?”  
  
“No, we suspected that he might have healed…healed her psyche, but if he did, he had no knowledge of doing so…it could never be proven. She was a very bright young woman—she might have overcome her own demons.”  
  
“She was always like that…even as child. Nothing ever got her down. Her mother used to joke that she was born smiling.”  
  
“Also, Heechul would say things about them being together, and I could not discount them.”  
  
SooYoung frowned. “Heechul is not in his right mind.”  
  
“No, but I think this version of Heechul…can sometimes channel the genius he once was. I never completely discount anything Heechul says…his brilliance was unmatched in the medical community. He was the youngest chief medical officer in the history of Starfleet for a reason.”  
  
SooYoung nodded her head. “He was known for coming to the correct conclusions with very little supporting data.”  
  
“His intuition was second to none…and he thought something tied Sulli and Changmin together.”  
  
“But why did he think this? Sulli did not act like…like she was interested in Changmin romantically,” SooYoung added, puzzled. “When I first returned to the ship…Sulli was matchmaking. She acted as if she wanted me and Changmin to be together and she was very sincere about it.”  
  
Ryeowook walked up to the bed and looked down at the beautiful sleeping girl. “She was very traumatized by what happened to her on Belara. She wasn’t ready to be in any relationship.”  
  
SooYoung fought back the feelings of nausea she always felt when she thought of her poor, sweet cousin and the nightmare she had been forced to live. “Hangeng and Victoria didn’t flaunt that they were bonded, but it was very obvious to me—since Victoria could not make me think otherwise. Captain Yunho and Jaejoong’s bond is almost palpable to all of us around them. How could Sulli and Changmin be bonded and it not be clear to all, especially Jaejoong?”  
  
“But they weren’t bonded,” Minho replied as he entered the room.  
  
SooYoung turned to face her younger brother. “How can you say that? The moment he disappears she is lost. I know Changmin knew this would happen to her…he ordered for her to stay in here.”  
  
Minho shook his head. “Maybe he did, but he did not think they were bonded. Of course he was as suspicious as you, once his thoughts cleared, but he ruled it out. When a Joong bonds with a mate they take on the form of their mate’s ideal mate.”  
  
“And what exactly does that disprove?” SooYoung asked, puzzled.  
  
“Changmin asked Sulli what her ideal mate was…and he was much relieved when she told him it was the gymnast of Gurrin 5,” Minho explained to his sister. “No one would ever compare Changmin to a gymnast from Gurrin 5.”  
  
SooYoung was unable to hide her shock as she repeated in a whisper, “The gymnast of Gurrin 5?”  
  
“Changmin was only half Joong, and he was very different from Jaejoong. When Yunho and Jaejoong were first bonded they could not leave each other…Sulli and Changmin never exhibited any of that. It is possible that Changmin wasn’t even capable of bonding with anyone,” Ryeowook added.  
  
“He seemed very fond of her. I know I only knew him before his Joong side emerged…but he hugged her with such ease,” SooYoung stated unable to rid herself of her lingering suspicions.  
  
Minho reached out and touched his sister’s shoulder. “I believe it was their time on Belara that tied them together.”  
  
SooYoung turned back to her sleeping cousin. “I suppose,” she told her brother and the doctor, but she refused to believe that only friendship linked her cousin and Changmin together.  
  
  
*********************************  
  
Yunho sat in his captain’s chair debating his options. He was very eager to head the away team; he had been cooped up on the ship for weeks now. His problem was that Jaejoong would never allow him to visit a planet without him and leaving the ship without Jaejoong would be nearly impossible.  
  
Pregnant Starfleet officers were not excluded from away missions, but Yunho found the thought of his very pregnant mate accompanying him on an unexplored planet discomforting. Jaejoong’s telepathic powers were fading quickly as the pregnancy progressed and he became more and more enthralled by the life growing inside of him, but Yunho highly doubted he could leave the ship without the bond alerting Jaejoong.  
  
Yunho quickly discarded any thoughts of attempting to leave the ship without notifying Jaejoong. It would be dishonest and his relationship with Jaejoong was growing stronger every day; he would not betray Jaejoong’s trust. His and Jaejoong’s lives were tied together—now and forever and he would not willfully blemish their epic love.  
  
Yunho was very aware of Kyuhyun sitting to his right in the first officer’s chair. Kyuhyun _seemed_  to be handling his separation from Ryeowook well, but Yunho suspected otherwise. He didn’t want Kyuhyun to head the away mission unless he was certain his mind was on the mission and not the mess he had made of his life. But to put someone else in charge of the mission would be insulting to Kyuhyun and a show of no faith.  
  
Unless he put Ensign SungGyu in charge…and said it was a learning experience; but no, SungGyu was much too young to lead an away team—even if he would be Yunho’s first choice. Which Yunho found rather startling, considering how green the young ensign was. Sungmin excelled at implementing orders, but original thinking was not his forte. Commander Yoochun, who was more than capable of commanding others, was always distracted by new technology and the planet had a mysterious device that was sure to garner all of Yoochun’s attention. SooYoung, Yesung, and Donghae had never led an away mission…and Yunho was well aware he needed to give them the chance, but still he found himself wishing Ensign SungGyu was older and a long established lieutenant instead of a lowly ensign.  
  
Yunho was distracted from his thoughts when the doors to the bridge whooshed open and Jaejoong emerged on the bridge wearing his uniform. Yunho smiled at his mate as Jaejoong seated himself to his left.  
  
“This is a nice surprise,” Yunho told his mate.  
  
“It was just too cold in our quarters.”  
  
Yunho couldn’t keep from snorting. “Really?”  
  
Jaejoong nodded his head. “So are you eager to go exploring new worlds?”  
  
“Always, but I won’t be exploring this one.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
Yunho reached and took Jaejoong’s hand and sent telepathically,  _“I didn’t think you would let me?”_  
  
 _“I shall go with you.”  
  
“No…no…no.”  
  
“Don’t be ridiculous.”  
  
“I am not being ridiculous.”  
  
“I am self-healing and although my telepathic powers are greatly diminished…they aren’t completely gone.”  
  
“True.”_  
  
 _“The time is fast approaching when my telepathic abilities will vanish completely.”  
  
“It won’t be for long.”  
  
“Changmin’s growth rate will slow down.”  
  
“It hasn’t yet.”  
  
“It will.”_  
  
 _“Then we will just have to wait a little longer for our miracle.”  
  
“I do want to go on the away mission.”  
  
“Why?”_  
  
“ _Because it will make you happy, and also I would like to walk on a planet. I think feeling the warmth of a sun against my face would be nice.”_  
  
Yunho resisted the urge to kiss his mate while they were on the bridge. He was relieved that Jaejoong’s freezing phase had passed.  _“Then we shall go exploring at 0600 hours tomorrow.”_  
  
 _“Perfect,”_  Jaejoong replied, leaning over to kiss Yunho on the cheek.  
  
*****************************  
  
Ryeowook was nearing the entrance to Ten Forward with a picnic basket in his hand, when he unexpectedly met up with Kyuhyun in the seldom used corridor. Ryeowook froze, he had been successfully avoiding the other man for weeks and to his relief Kyuhyun had not sought him out.  
  
“Oh, hello,” Kyuhyun said awkwardly after coming to a halt in front of the other man.  
  
Ryeowook looked down the corridor where Kyuhyun had emerged from and couldn’t keep from questioning, “Were you in the holodeck?”  
  
“Yes, the captain has allowed me special use of it.”  
  
Ryeowook recoiled, taking a step backwards, automatically assuming the worst. “Really? Anyone joining you or is the holodeck providing all your entertainment? Not that I care.”  
  
“It’s not like that.”  
  
“Like I said, I don’t care.”  
  
“Why did you ask then?”  
  
“Habit…one I am working on breaking,” Ryeowook snapped. “I will be going now.”  
  
Kyuhyun reached out and grabbed Ryeowook by the arm as the other man attempted to pass him in the corridor. “I’m using the holodeck to continue my therapy.”  
  
“You are…since when?” Ryeowook asked, unable to hide his curiosity.  
  
“Heechul suggested I use the holodeck,” Kyuhyun explained, letting go of Ryeowook.  
  
“Heechul?”  
  
“Yes, he had one of his rare moments of lucidity and suggested it to me. After some reflection I realized how right he was. It appears I’m more open to therapy when you are not monitoring every aspect of it.”  
  
“Yes, I remember one of the many drawbacks to being married to the Chief Medical Officer,” Ryeowook told the other man as he tightly gripped the picnic basket he was holding.  
  
Kyuhyun closed his eyes, feeling the other man’s hurt and anger. “I wish…I wish I could take that back. I wish—”  
  
“Why would you want to take it back? You meant it. You meant every word…you were just being honest. You hated yourself for saying it, but you meant it.”  
  
“Yes, I meant it at the time, but I should not have said it. I should not have lashed out at you.”  
  
Ryeowook backed up against the corridor wall and questioned, “Why are you fighting the divorce? I don’t understand your reasons…you are the one that chose to end our marriage.”  
  
“I did not!” Kyuhyun vehemently denied. “Even back then, when I was being a complete idiot…I never wanted a divorce.”  
  
Ryeowook dropped the picnic basket. “No, that is a lie! I gave you a choice and you chose divorce.”  
  
“I didn’t choose anything! I didn’t do anything of the sort. This was your deal…I never agreed to it. Plus, I have not betrayed you!”  
  
“Not for a lack of trying. We both know if the captain had not intervened you would have.”  
  
Kyuhyun stepped closer to Ryeowook and admitted, “And I wish he hadn’t.”  
  
“God,” was all Ryeowook could get out of his mouth and as he brought his hands up to cover his face and whispered, “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”  
  
“Don’t misunderstand me…I am grateful, but this way…I’ll never know if…if I could have stopped myself. I need to know that I could have stopped myself from hurting you. I went to the transporter room and I was going to beam down, but I was so full of doubts. I was relieved when I found out we were no longer in orbit.” Kyuhyun reached out and pulled Ryeowook’s hands away from his face to look at the man he had loved since the academy. “I wasn’t disappointed. I was relieved.”  
  
“But don’t you see…even if you had beamed down there and decided to not go through with it…it would still have been too late for us,” Ryeowook told him, holding back his tears.  
  
“No, I don’t believe that,” Kyuhyun insisted. “I refuse to believe that. We have…our love has suffered a lot. I know I have done you wrong, but Ryeowook—I…I…I just need you to love me a little longer…I promise I am trying my best to be better for you.”  
  
Ryeowook pushed Kyuhyun away from him. “Stop it! Just stop it! You don’t have the right to ask anything of me.”  
  
“Yes, I do! We are still married and we promised to love each other for better and worse….and this is just the worst of me.”  
  
“I…I…you need to shut up!” Ryeowook yelled at the other man as he picked up the picnic basket. “This is your fault! Don’t make me out to be the bad guy.”  
  
“Don’t you think I know that? I know you are not the bad guy but I am not bad either. I am just…I just need time to heal. I didn’t want to fight with you. I really didn’t.”  
  
“Divorce me and there will be no more fighting.”  
  
“I am not going to do that.”  
  
“Then we are going to fight, because you have hurt me for the last time.”  
  
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.”  
  
Ryeowook eyed the picnic basket and contemplated throwing it at his husband. “Then why did you?”  
  
“I can’t explain why I react the way I do…but it isn’t because of you…it’s because of all the things that have happened to me. It’s just hard sometimes…and crazy thoughts take over.”  
  
“Kyuhyun…”  
  
“I am not excusing the way I behaved, but it wasn’t to hurt you—”  
  
“Well, it did!”  
  
“I don’t want to lose you.”  
  
“You already have!”  
  
“Ryeowook…”  
  
“You get all the therapy you need, and I really hope you get better…I do. I want you to be better, but we are over, now please just let me go,” Ryeowook pleaded, gripping the basket tightly.  
  
“Ryeowook…”  
  
“I know you have suffered…but I just…I can’t be with you anymore.”  
  
“Ryeowook…”  
  
“I am not going to say I don’t still care about you…because I do, but I don’t trust you with my heart.”  
  
“Am I interrupting something?”  
  
Ryeowook and Kyuhyun both jerked their heads in the direction of the voice, and found Siwon watching them.  
  
“Yes,” Kyuhyun answered sharply.  
  
“No, Kyuhyun was just leaving,” Ryeowook said, loosening his grip on the picnic basket. “We can have lunch, now.”  
  
Kyuhyun’s mouth dropped open as he realized the two men were having lunch together in the secluded Ten Forward.  
  
Siwon eyed Kyuhyun carefully as he told Ryeowook, “I feared I was too early.”  
  
“No, I actually got here awhile ago. I wanted a moment alone…but that didn’t work out as planned.”  
  
“Ryeowook, what the hell are you doing with him? Is this some way to get back at me and Sungmin with one stone?” Kyuhyun questioned in an accusing voice.  
  
Ryeowook dropped the picnic basket again. “I know you didn’t just say that!”  
  
“Well, I did! Are you insane? Sungmin will kick your ass!” Kyuhyun shouted.  
  
Siwon held up his hands. “I assure you—”  
  
“Shut up,” Ryeowook barked at Siwon, interrupting him before he could finish responding. Ryeowook then focused only on Kyuhyun. “Why do you care? Are you jealous?”  
  
“Have you listened to a word I have said? Of course, I am jealous,” Kyuhyun replied, stepping up to Ryeowook and snatching the picnic basket up and thrusting it into Ryeowook’s chest. “I love you!”  
  
Ryeowook puffed up and retorted, “Really…you are jealous? Not you, the great defender of polygamy. I mean love and sex have nothing to do with each other! Why would the fact that I am having sex with Siwon bother you?”  
  
Siwon cleared his throat, but the warning glare Ryeowook sent his way had him clamping his mouth shut.  
  
“Liar,” Kyuhyun told Ryeowook, shaking his head. “I know you…like nobody else will ever know you…and I know you are lying.”  
  
“What if I’m not?”  
  
“You are!”  
  
“Kyuhyun, do you even realize how big of hypocrite you are?”  
  
“Yes, I know,” Kyuhyun answered, reaching out to hold Ryeowook’s shoulders. “But you love me anyway.”  
  
“You…you…jerk!” Ryeowook shouted, dropping the picnic basket…again.  
  
“I am so sorry I hurt you…I am sorry for a lot of things…but let’s just stop these games. We belong together, and you and I both know it.”  
  
Ryeowook stomped Kyuhyun’s foot with his own, causing Kyuhyun to let go of him. “I know you’re an ass! That’s what I know. You are sorry, so I should just forgive you! Bullshit!”  
  
Kyuhyun limped back. “Ryeowook…”  
  
“I am going to have lunch with Siwon…” Ryeowook paused as he turned back to face the prince and found they were alone. “He left.”  
  
Kyuhyun, who was bent over rubbing his foot, looked up at the other man and suggested, “We could have lunch together instead?”  
  
The doctor whirled around, snatched the picnic basket off the floor and threw it at Kyuhyun. “Here! Take it! You can choke on it for all I care!”  
  
****************  
  
“No, I think at one time there was probably an entire city surrounding it,” Lieutenant SooYoung said, answering Yunho’s question. “It’s just the only remaining structure from the culture that once lived on this planet.”  
  
“Amazing,” Yunho responded, eyeing the device that was made of some virtually indestructible substance the Expectation’s computers could not identify. They were in the middle of a desert on the planet that the science department had dubbed Desert 37. They temperature was surprisingly mild, considering the terrain.  
  
Commander Yoochun was kneeling by the device that was approximately sixteen meters in length, three meters in height, and four meters in width. “It’s very similar to the device that was responsible for the gender switch.”  
  
“Seriously,” Sungmin exclaimed, taking a step back. “Should you be so close to it?”  
  
“I am just observing it,” Yoochun informed the uneasy security chief. “I am not meddling with anything.”  
  
Ensign SungGyu, who was studying the device uneasily, asked, “Is it older than the other one?  
  
“It’s much older,” Lieutenant SooYoung supplied.  
  
“Am I the only one unsettled by it?” Sungmin questioned.  
  
“You are just afraid your boobs will return,” Yoochun told him.  
  
“And you aren’t?” Sungmin asked, aghast.  
  
Yoochun shrugged, still fascinated by the device. “I would probably get a lot more action if I were a girl.”  
  
“Commander,” Yunho warned. “Why isn’t it covered in sand? It should have been buried thousands of years ago.”  
  
Lieutenant SooYoung suggested, “It must have some sort of maintenance system that is still in affect.”  
  
Sungmin took another step away from the device. “Are you saying it still works?”  
  
“Yep,” Yoochun excitedly answered.  
  
“It’s amazing that it is still functioning after all these years,” SungGyu, who was kneeling beside the Chief Engineer, stated.  
  
“Indeed,” SooYoung agreed.  
  
“So boring,” Jaejoong grumbled, standing back away from the device.  
  
Doctor Nam, who was standing beside Jaejoong replied, “Not exactly how I envisioned my first mission, but as long as everybody is safe, I’m happy.”  
  
“Yes, I am not exactly up for a fight either,” Jaejoong admitted.  
  
WooHyun looked down at the Joong’s belly. “It seems like your baby is eager to be born.”  
  
“His growth rate will slow down…although if I broke the three month record I wouldn’t be surprised. Yunho and I do tend to break all the Joong records,” Jaejoong sighed and admitted. “But it wouldn’t be something I could brag about.”  
  
“Really? Why not?” asked a confused WooHyun.  
  
Jaejoong tensed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”  
  
“Okay,” WooHyun relented, strolling away from Jaejoong and towards the others.  
  
“How can it be more advanced if it is so much older?” Sungmin asked.  
  
“I don’t know. It seems to be built by the same species,” Yoochun replied. “It just seems more advanced. It’s more compact and I wouldn’t even know where to begin taking it apart.”  
  
“You are not taking it apart,” Yunho said, speaking up. “We have no idea what it does…and I’d rather not be turned into a woman.”  
  
Yoochun looked up at Yunho. “But just think what a great mommy you would make.”  
  
SungGyu stood up trying not to smile at the captain.  
  
Lieutenant SooYoung did not attempt to hide her smile. “You will make a splendid parent no matter the gender, Captain.”  
  
Lieutenant Sungmin knelt down by Yoochun and whispered, “Please, resist whatever uncontrollable urges you have to find out how this thing works.”  
  
Yoochun frowned and complained, “I miss Changmin…he would have understood my curiosity.”  
  
“We are all curious,” Yunho said from above the engineer, “but if he we are going to start dismantling this device…we can leave that to robotics.”  
  
WooHyun stood next to SungGyu and asked, “Were you turned into a woman, too?”  
  
“No,” SungGyu answered. “I had not yet started going on away missions then…thankfully.”  
  
“Yunho, how much longer are we going to be here?” Jaejoong complained as he walked up to them. “I feel the urge to cook something.”  
  
Yunho turned toward his mate and began to reply when a blue light emanated from the device, enveloping all of them.  
  
The blue light disappeared as quickly as it appeared.  
  
Yunho instinctively headed toward Jaejoong but quickly found himself jerked backwards as if he was tied to something. Yunho tumbled, finding himself on the ground beside Lieutenant SooYoung’s feet. “Jaejoong!”  
  
Jaejoong, who still standing away from the others, asked, “What? I am perfectly fine.”  
  
“They are still here,” Yoochun declared with relief as he stood up clutching his scrotum.  
  
“Mine too,” Sungmin said, also relieved.  
  
SungGyu, who had his tricorder out scanning, answered, “There was a quick energy spike from the device and now it is gone.”  
  
“If these readings are correct then we are—” SooYoung, who was also looking at her tricorder, was interrupted when Yunho, who had gotten up again was knocked into her after trying to reach Jaejoong.  
  
Jaejoong stared at Yunho curiously and stated, “You seem to be awfully clumsy all of a sudden.”  
  
“What is going on?” Sungmin asked, after he tried to step away from Yoochun and found himself unable to put any distance between himself and the engineer.  
  
Doctor Nam and Ensign SungGyu had only managed to take one step away from each other before they were stopped. “It’s as if we are tied together by some invisible force,” SungGyu said, mystified.  
  
“Exactly,” SooYoung confirmed, studying the tricorder. “It appears Ensign SungGyu and Doctor Nam are linked together by some invisible force and so are Commander Yoochun and Lieutenant Sungmin, and…” SooYoung paused to look at the captain. “And the captain and I.”  
  
It was Commander Yoochun who broke the silence that followed the science officer’s announcement. “Fuck!”


	2. Extraordinary Life

“I am going to tell you right now—I don’t do threesomes!” Jaejoong said contemptuously as he glared at SooYoung, who was sitting next to Yunho in Sickbay. “I don’t believe in sharing.”  
  
“Damn,” SooYoung responded in a deadpan voice causing Yunho, who was sitting beside her, to let out a small groan.  
  
Jaejoong’s mouth dropped open.  
  
Ryeowook, who had overhead the exchange, teased, “I’m sure you’re heartbroken…I mean, pregnant hermaphrodites are such a rare find.”  
  
“Indeed they are,” SooYoung added straight-faced. “I am always looking for new experiences to broaden my horizons.”  
  
“Is she joking?” Jaejoong demanded, hating that he couldn’t pick up anything from the woman’s closed mind.  
  
“Yes, she is joking, because you are being ridiculous! Stop with the threats. She did not plan this,” Yunho snapped at his mate.  
  
Jaejoong, who was sitting on a chair beside their exam bed, folded his arms across his stomach protectively and stated, “Excuse me, if I find the fact that my bondmate is physically connected to another person unsettling! Also, why can’t she be ugly?”  
  
“You think I’m pretty. I am flattered,” SooYoung said, turning to smile down at Jaejoong. After spending three hours with the cranky, jealous Joong she had decided to give as good as she got.  
  
“I didn’t say that.”  
  
“You said I wasn’t ugly.”  
  
“Doesn’t mean I think you are pretty.”  
  
SooYoung batted her long eyelashes at Jaejoong and conceded, “True, I am more on the beautiful side.”  
  
“You two stop,” Yunho ordered, scolding them both. “Dr. Cho, can you please release us from Sickbay so we can get to the science labs? We need to figure a way out of this mess.”  
  
“I second that,” Commander Yoochun, who was sitting on another exam bed with Lieutenant Sungmin, stated. “Since beaming down to the planet again didn’t help…we need to get to work.”  
  
“The quicker the better,” Sungmin agreed.  
  
Ryeowook nodded his head and told them, “You are released.”  
  
Yunho motioned to SooYoung and they both got off of the exam bed they were sitting on at the same time. “Dr. Cho, I will have Ensign SungGyu and Doctor Nam stay in sickbay so you can also work on breaking the invisible bond—”  
  
“It’s not a bond!” Jaejoong interrupted, correcting his mate. “It is just some artificial link placed there by a mechanical device. It’s nothing like a bond.”  
  
Dr. Cho asked, “I wonder though if it wasn’t meant to simulate a Joong bond?”  
  
“Yes, because the Joong bondmate bond is only a thing of proximity,” Jaejoong seethed, sarcastically.  
  
“It is at first,” Yunho pointed out. “I can’t even remember how many times I fell on my ass trying to get away from you when we were first bonded.”  
  
“Also it has to be more than coincidence that Jaejoong, the only Joong, was not affected,” Ryeowook pointed out.  
  
“Just like Changmin wasn’t affected by the gender switching machine,” Yunho surmised and turned to face Jaejoong. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”  
  
Jaejoong grunted, “Yes, and so did the good doctor.”  
  
Ryeowook cast Jaejoong a betrayed glance and quickly explained, “I did suspect it had more to do with his Joong half, than being the dominate male.”  
  
“Hmmmf, I knew I was the alpha male back then,” Yoochun said confidently.  
  
Sungmin snorted and informed the engineer, “I can kill you with my finger…my pinky finger.”  
  
“Focus people,” Yunho warned.  
  
WooHyun, who was leaning against the wall with SungGyu, asked, “So if the connection is an attempt to mimic the Joong bond…what do we need to do so we can put more space between us?”  
  
“Sex,” Yoochun answered, wrapping his arm around Sungmin’s waist. “Sorry, but I’ll have to decline. I hate to disappoint you, but I might be getting lucky with Junsu sometime this decade, so we won’t be participating in the sexperiment.”  
  
Sungmin turned to look at the engineer and asked, “Sexperiment?”  
  
“Sex is why Yunho and Jaejoong are not joined at the hip any longer,” Yoochun explained. “So either SooYoung and Yunho or Cute Little Doctor and Bright Shiny Boy are going to have to sex with each other to see if it breaks the connection.”  
  
Jaejoong stood up and growled, “Over her dead—”  
  
“We will do it,” WooHyun offered.  
  
An appalled Ensign SungGyu immediately replied, “We most certainly will not!”  
  
“Listen here, Boy,” Jaejoong snapped at the red headed ensign. “You two are going to eventually have sex anyway, just get it over with. Because Yunho isn’t touching—”  
  
“Stop it,” Yunho ordered, interrupting his mate. “Nobody is having sex. It’s ridiculous. Yoochun is wrong; the bond isn’t solely based on sex. Jaejoong and I were able to put distance between us long before we had sex.”  
  
Ryeowook walked up next to Jaejoong and put an arm around the Joong whose chest was heaving with anger. “A real Joong bond is an emotional bond more than anything. I think we should all get to work on finding a solution, and stop this guessing game.”  
  
“Doctor Cho, you are right as usual,” Yunho replied, reaching out an arm for Jaejoong. “We will get to the labs. Dr. Cho, please notify me immediately if you discover anything.”  
  
“Of course, just remember you must stay within an arm’s length distance of each other,” Ryeowook answered as Jaejoong moved away from him and clasped Yunho’s hand.  
  
“We will all meet back here at 0700 in Dr. Cho’s office,” Yunho ordered, holding on to Jaejoong’s hand.  
  
 _“Calm down, this is nothing to be upset about.”_  
  
Jaejoong tightened his grip on Yunho’s hand.  _“How can you say that?”_  
  
 _“Because I love you, and you know it…so stop acting stupid. Really, I thought you were past this kind of petty jealousy. Nothing is ever coming between us.”_  
  
Jaejoong looked confused as he tried to decide if he was offended or reassured by his mate’s words. Finally he looked up at Yunho as he informed him, _“You are right about that because I will tear her fucking arm off if I have to!”_  
  
********************  
  
“Don’t be so fussy.”  
  
Sungmin, who was walking beside Commander Yoochun down the corridor, told the other man. “I am not being fussy. It’s just that—why the hell do you need to see Junsu at this hour? He’s probably asleep.”  
  
“How soon you forget.”  
  
“What exactly have I forgotten?”  
  
“Junsu and I are going to have a breakfast date,” Yoochun reminded the other man.  
  
“Oh, I thought that was just a possibility.”  
  
Yoochun exhaled. “I am trying to turn a new leaf…be less obsessive, so I was waiting for him to come to me.”  
  
“And he didn’t...?”  
  
“No,” Yoochun answered, his disappointment showing. “So I am now going to try another tactic.”  
  
Sungmin side eyed the engineer. “Dare I ask?”  
  
“Well, before I got linked to you, I had thought I would carefully broach the subject with him again, but now I think it works out even better.”  
  
“Why do you say that?”  
  
“You can come along with us, so he will feel more at ease,” Yoochun explained.  
  
The Chief of Security couldn’t keep from smiling. He had been mysteriously tied to the engineer since early morning and he had been happily surprised by the engineer’s good behavior. “Yoochun, trust me, you want to make sure he’s homosexually inclined before you progress any farther.”  
  
“Oh, he likes me,” Yoochun replied, confidently. “I promise he is inclined towards me.”  
  
“Well, I think you might be the only one sure of his inclination.”  
  
“I’m sure.”  
  
“But what do you feel? Is it just lust?”  
  
“I will admit at first it was just lust…but it’s more than that now.”  
  
Sungmin came to a sudden stop, causing Yoochun to stumble backwards toward him.  
  
“You need to warn me!” Yoochun complained.  
  
“Can you pinch me?” Sungmin asked, holding out his arm.  
  
“Why?” Yoochun asked, surprised.  
  
“Because I think I am in some alternate reality…where you are a decent human being,”  
  
Yoochun reached out and pinched Sungmin hard. “Asshole.”  
  
Sungmin jerked his arm back. “Hey, let’s be honest, this behavior isn’t like you.”  
  
“I am just full of consideration for others these days. After we stop and see Junsu, I will even let you stop at the prince’s quarters for a quick booty call. I promise to keep one eye shut as you two do the nasty.”  
  
Sungmin shook his head. “Now, that’s sounds more like you.”  
  
“No, it’s still an improvement because I didn’t offer to join in,” Yoochun informed the other man as he started walking down the corridor again.  
  
“Well, you probably didn’t feel like being transported back to sickbay after I broke both your legs.”  
  
“No, no…I didn’t.” Yoochun admitted with a grin.  
  
They came to a stop outside Junsu’s door.  
  
Sungmin groaned after seeing the goofy grin on Yoochun’s face as he signaled for the door to alert Junsu of his presence. “This is such a bad idea.”  
  
The doors to the quarters whooshed open and a sleepy looking Junsu appeared, he was unable to hide his surprise at seeing the two men standing outside his door.  
  
“Ummm…hello…”  
  
Yoochun leaned against the doorway. “So, I am here about that breakfast date you promised me.”  
  
Junsu blinked. “I don’t think I promised…”  
  
“But you  _definitely_  strongly hinted at the possibility,” Yoochun quickly reminded him. “I thought since I am literally tied to Sungmin…maybe we could do it tomorrow, but since my morning will consist of briefings…I thought perhaps we could do lunch instead.”  
  
Junsu looked at Sungmin, who quickly explained to the ensign, “I will be your chaperone. You will be safe.”  
  
Yoochun cleared his throat. “Junsu, he’s being silly. Of course you would be safe—we are both grown men. It just might be more comfortable for you if he tags along.”  
  
Junsu looked back at Yoochun and hesitantly agreed, “Okay, I will have lunch with you…in the mess hall, but aren’t you going to be busy tomorrow? Don’t you have to figure out what is binding you two together?”  
  
Yoochun’s grin was back as he waved his hand in dismissal. “Don’t worry about that. We are going to work on it all night long…we can take a break for lunch. If something else happens, I’ll let you know.”  
  
Junsu nodded his head. “Okay, that seems fair. I’m going back to bed now. Bye…both of you.”  
  
“Bye,” Sungmin told the ensign, trying to hide his reservations.  
  
“Goodnight,” Yoochun replied excitedly as the helmsman disappeared behind the closing doors. Yoochun then turned to Sungmin and surprised the other man by hugging him.  
  
Sungmin pushed the engineer away. “Control yourself.”  
  
“I can’t help it! This is great!” Yoochun declared, almost bouncing for joy.  
  
“Such a bad idea,” Sungmin whispered under his breath.  
  
“Don’t be a party pooper!” Yoochun chastised as he took Sungmin by the arm and headed towards the lift.  
  
“I am not a party pooper.”  
  
“Do you want to stop and see your prince? I promise to behave myself,” Yoochun offered.  
  
“No,” Sungmin quickly responded. “Let’s just get back to labs and fix this.”  
  
“If we solve this little problem, you still have to go to lunch with us.”  
  
“I know…I will.”  
  
****************************  
  
  
“Are we even sure it is Joong technology?” Dr. Cho asked as he looked over the results of his scans.  
  
SungGyu quickly answered, “No, we aren’t sure of anything.”  
  
Dr. Cho looked up and replied, “Although if Joong technology is half as confusing as Joong physiology then it would make sense.”  
  
WooHyun, who was perched on the side of the exam bed beside SungGyu, asked, “Confusing?”  
  
Ryeowook walked back over to the bed and explained, “Its ability to fool even our most advanced technology.”  
  
“But don’t you use the technology on this ship to examine Jaejoong all the time?” WooHyun pointed out. “You were just looking at the baby yesterday.”  
  
“Yes, but I don’t put much faith in it. There were no red flags alerting us when Jaejoong first arrived on this ship to show he was anything but a regular human being.”  
  
“There weren’t?”  
  
“Half of the equipment on this ship wouldn’t tell Heechul anything. It wasn’t Jaejoong using his telepathy either. The reports simply did not give away his Joong blood.”  
  
SungGyu frowned. “And now it does?”  
  
Ryeowook leaned against the wall and clarified, “It does…but if I scanned Jaejoong tomorrow and it said he was a normal human male and not a pregnant hermaphrodite I wouldn’t be surprised.”  
  
“It’s like the legends,” WooHyun told them.  
  
“The legends?” SungGyu asked the young doctor.  
  
WooHyun nodded his head. “That the Joong are really omnipotent beings just pretending at being mortal.”  
  
“Jaejoong isn’t omnipotent; if he were SooYoung wouldn’t be tied to Yunho,” Ryeowook pointed out.  
  
SungGyu narrowed his eyes. “But what if it is a game they play? What if it’s all one big game for them?”  
  
“Then why would a Joong like Victoria let Hangeng’s father murder her parents and sexually abuse her?” WooHyun asked.  
  
“ZhouMi tortured Jaejoong before the captain rescued him,” Ryeowook added.  
  
“But would torture or death be the same to an all powerful being? Emotional damage or physical damage, would that even register with them in their omnipotent forms? If their physical form died…wouldn’t they just go on being omnipotent? I mean they could literally start all over again. Mortality could just be a game they play at over and over.”  
  
Ryeowook shook his head. “If they were really playing at being human…wouldn’t they have to really believe they were human?”  
  
“What do you mean?” WooHyun asked.  
  
“What fun would it be playing at being mortal if they didn’t really believe it? Where would the sense of jeopardy come in…if you knew you were indestructible?” Commander Cho, who had been standing outside of the room listening in on their conversation, asked.  
  
“But Commander…maybe they don’t know they are playing at being mortal. Perhaps, they are sincere…maybe they do something to make themselves forget and at the time of their mortal death they become omnipotent once again,” SungGyu suggested.  
  
Ryeowook, who had tensed the minute Kyuhyun had made his presence known, added, “And before they take on their mortal form…they put fail safes into place in the universe. Make it difficult for technology to identify them.”  
  
SungGyu offered, “Put limitations on what they will allow to happen to them.”  
  
“Give themselves amazing healing, telepath, and empathic abilities,” WooHyun added.  
  
SungGyu nodded his head. “Devices like the Guardian of Time to give them access to the universe, alternate realities, and all of time.”  
  
“It’s a very interesting theory, but it doesn’t really solve your problem,” Commander Cho stated, pointing to WooHyun and SungGyu.  
  
“No,” SungGyu agreed.  
  
Ryeowook turned to look at Commander Cho and was unable to hide his irritation. “Is there a reason why you are here? It’s 0200 hours and the briefing isn’t for another five hours.”  
  
“I need something for sleep,” Kyuhyun answered, ignoring his husband’s mood.  
  
WooHyun took SungGyu by the hand and got off the exam bed, pulling SungGyu along with him. He told the commander, “I will be happy to get you something. How long would you like to sleep?”  
  
“Four hours,” Kyuhyun said, answering WooHyun, but he kept his eyes on Ryeowook.  
  
Ryeowook bit his tongue to keep himself from asking if the commander was having nightmares and mentally counted to ten before telling WooHyun, “I am going to go. You two should get some sleep before the briefing or take a stimulant…we need to start over tomorrow with fresh eyes.”  
  
Kyuhyun reached out a hand to stop Ryeowook from departing the room. “Can we talk?”  
  
“No,” Ryeowook simply answered, pushing past the commander with not another word.  
  
An awkward silence filled the room for only a moment before SungGyu broke it, “I’d rather go to sleep than take a stimulant.”  
  
“Of course, it’s your motto after all,” WooHyun told the ensign as he handed the commander a hypospray. “Commander, just take this after you lie down and you should sleep soundly for the next four hours.”  
  
Kyuhyun took the hypospray from WooHyun. “Thanks.”  
  
“You are welcome.”  
  
Kyuhyun nodded his head and left the room.  
  
“Well, that was awkward,” SungGyu mumbled under his breath.  
  
WooHyun, who was still holding SungGyu’s hand, scratched his head with his free hand. “Yeah, they are kinda having a lover’s tiff.”  
  
“I noticed.”  
  
“I hope they work it out soon. It seems like they have been through a whole lot of grief,” WooHyun told the ensign as he led him from the sickbay.  
  
“I am not close to either of them, but everybody on the ship knows Commander Cho has been through hell and back.”  
  
“I just know…I just know them being apart is really hard on Dr. Cho.”  
  
“Really? Dr. Cho looked like he couldn’t get away from Commander Cho fast enough.”  
  
WooHyun pondered SungGyu’s words, and commented, “I think it is really complicated between them.”  
  
“It’s a good reminder why you shouldn’t become romantically involved with people you work with.”  
  
WooHyun glanced at SungGyu as they walked down the corridor towards their quarters. “Aren’t we about to sleep together?” WooHyun asked, purposely swinging their arms back and forth to remind the other man of their connection. “If you plan on sleeping, then I am going to have to sleep with you.”  
  
SungGyu snorted. “Sleep being the key word.”  
  
“You are no fun.”  
  
“That’s right, none at all—don’t you forget it,” SungGyu told the other man, unperturbed.  
  
WooHyun smiled, relenting, “Sleep, just sleep it is.”  
  
  
********************  
  
“What are you doing in my office?”  
  
Heechul, who had been sitting at Ryeowook’s desk reading, looked up at the young doctor and stated, “Actually, it is my office.”  
  
Hope filled Ryeowook as he rushed to the desk. “Dr. Kim!”  
  
Heechul dropped the piece of paper he had been reading and quickly waved his hands in front of him. “No, I am still fabulous.”  
  
“Nurse Heechul,” Ryeowook grumbled, letting his disappointment show. “Why are you up so early?”  
  
“Since that SooYoung creature arrived on the ship…I have decided to go to bed earlier. I have to remain the superior beauty on this ship, after all. The power of beauty sleep can not be underestimated. Just look at Sleeping Beauty; she is more adorable than ever.”  
  
“Sleeping Beauty?”  
  
“I am talking about Sulli…you are not all that bright.”  
  
Dr. Cho was not in a mood for Heechul and his antics. His attempt to sleep had been a complete failure; he had finally given up and found his way back to sickbay at 5am. “I repeat, why are you in my office?”  
  
Heechul leaned back in the chair. “Starfleet gave me this office.”  
  
“They would take it back, believe me.”  
  
“So harsh.”  
  
“When you started caring more about your clothing choices than the lives of the crew…you kinda forfeited it,” Ryeowook reminded the once brilliant doctor.  
  
Heechul sneered. “Clothing is very important! A girl can’t just wear anything!”  
  
Ryeowook looked up at the ceiling and prayed for patience.  
  
“These pink scrubs I’m wearing are so much prettier than that nasty blue uniform you are wearing…although the blue uniforms are the best looking as far as the uniforms are concerned,” Heechul stated as he got up from the desk after picking up the piece of paper he had dropped earlier. “Don’t you think I look nice?”  
  
“You look marvelous,” Ryeowook forced out of his mouth, knowing honey coated words worked best with Heechul.  
  
“Yes, I know.” Heechul beamed at the younger man and held out the piece of paper he had been reading. “Since you are being nice…I guess you should read this.”  
  
Ryeowook looked at the letter. “What is it?”  
  
“Something that your hubby wrote for you…it is truly touching,” Heechul explained as he reached up and wiped his nose. “It gave me the sniffles.”  
  
“I don’t want it,” Ryeowook said, suddenly tense. “I don’t want anything from him.”  
  
Heechul shook his head. “But he wrote it for you…isn’t it romantic? He wrote you a love letter and left it on your desk. How many people get written love letters in this day and age? You should be flattered.”  
  
Ryeowook moved around to the back of the desk, putting distance between him and the letter. “I’m not.”  
  
With a dramatic wave of his hand, Heechul laid the letter on the desk. “Well, I will just leave it here in case you change your mind.”  
  
“I won’t.”  
  
“Time will tell,” Heechul replied as he strolled out of the office.  
  
  
****************  
  
  
  
“You should go back to our quarters and sleep,” Yunho told Jaejoong.  
  
Jaejoong was sitting in one of the chairs in the science lab. Yunho and SooYoung had been up all night working on a way to solve the problem, and Jaejoong had refused to leave them.  
  
Jaejoong yawned and told Yunho, who was standing next to SooYoung, working on equations, “The briefing is going to be in less than an hour.”  
  
“You don’t have to go to the briefing,” Yunho said calmly. All night he had been trying to persuade his mate to go to sleep.  
  
“I’m going to the briefing,” Jaejoong insisted.  
  
“You have to think of Changmin.”  
  
“Oh, so you don’t think I am thinking of Changmin? I suppose I am a bad birth-parent now?”  
  
“I didn’t say that.”  
  
“Well, I am not a human and I do not suffer from sleep deprivation like the rest of you primitives. If I sleep it’s because I enjoy sleeping! I can heal exhaustion…as you well know.”  
  
Yunho closed his eyes and slowly reopened them. “You just looked tired.”  
  
“Why do you want to get rid of me?”  
  
“What did I tell you about acting crazy? I do not want to get rid of you even if you are a—” Yunho abruptly stopped.  
  
“What were you going to say about me?”  
  
“That you are a wonderful mate and I love you.”  
  
Jaejoong glued his eyes to Yunho and appeared to be concentrating, after a few moments he spit out, “I can’t read your mind!”  
  
Yunho smiled. “Good.”  
  
Jaejoong held out his hand and ordered, “Hold my hand!”  
  
“I can’t, we are busy,” Yunho quickly told his lover.  
  
Jaejoong stood up, eyes blazing. “Don’t you worry, I can come to you.”  
  
Yunho took an involuntarily step backwards and came to abrupt stop as the invisible link binding him to SooYoung halted him.  
  
Jaejoong’s eyes narrowed. “Has the space allowed between you two shortened?”  
  
SooYoung, who had been ignoring the bickering couple, looked up from her calculations and met Yunho’s gaze curiously. Yunho nodded his head and attempted to take a step away from the science officer and found the arm’s length distance that had separated them before had been shorted by half.  
  
Jaejoong groaned. “Just wonderful.”  
  
*************  
  
  
SungGyu was awakened from a very pleasant dream when he was almost jerked out of bed.  
  
“Oh, shit! Shit! Shit!”  
  
“What?” SungGyu managed to ask as his eyes fluttered open and he quickly oriented himself to being awake. He had been flung to the other side of the bed and WooHyun was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed with his arm stretched out across the bed to maintain the invisible link with SungGyu.  
  
“I forgot,” Woohyun blurted out.  
  
Moisture on his lips had the ensign licking them. “What exactly have you forgotten? Was it our proximity issue or my stance on exploring a romantic relationship with you?”  
  
WooHyun slapped his forehead with his free hand. “Both…but it was more like I wasn’t thinking.”  
  
SungGyu cleared his throat and slid to the side of the bed, easing the tension in their arms.  
  
“I am a very affectionate person…and I was sleepy…and you were so warm…and I like waking up happy.”  
  
“Waking up happy…” SungGyu repeated hesitantly.  
  
“Once I realized you  _really_ were still asleep I stopped…which is, wow…I can’t believe you slept through it.”  
  
“I can sleep though almost anything. It is something I’ve been working on for awhile…since it could lead to big problems on away missions.”  
  
WooHyun shook his head amazed. “Yeah, somebody could kill you in your sleep and you wouldn’t even know it.”  
  
“Or molest me in my sleep.”  
  
“I am really sorry…I just wasn’t thinking. I blame it on living in a brothel,” WooHyun explained as he looked up at SungGyu apologetic eyes.  
  
SungGyu blinked. “You lived in a brothel?”  
  
“Yeah, when I was sixteen I was interning with this doctor and he was stationed at a colony controlled by Hangeng. He lived in a brothel…so naturally I lived there too…and well, they were extremely friendly at the brothel.”  
  
“How long were you there?” SungGyu asked as he got off the bed and sat down beside WooHyun on the floor.  
  
“For two years.”  
  
“So you hung out with prostitutes for two years?”  
  
“No, not  _all_  the time; there was a hospital there. I had to study and work a lot, but I won’t lie, I enjoyed my free time…” WooHyun paused to wink at SungGyu. “I learned a lot about medicine and sex.”  
  
“Did you have to pay for it?”  
  
“Nope,” WooHyun said with pride. “I always got freebies.”  
  
SungGyu darted his eyes away from WooHyun and asked, “Male or female?”  
  
“Back then I was experimenting with both; I am kinda easy going when it comes to sex.”  
  
The ensign looked back at Woohyun and questioned, “What do you mean by that?”  
  
“I meant that I just liked sex, gender didn’t matter all that much back then. My preference is men, but back then I wasn’t picky.”  
  
“And now?”  
  
“And now I am picky…very picky. I have very  _specific_  requirements now.”  
  
SungGyu studied the young doctor and stated firmly, “I don’t need you to tell me that you are only interested in me. I am not fishing for that.”  
  
“Okay, but it is the truth.”  
  
“I want us to remain friends.”  
  
“I am trying.”  
  
“You need to try harder.”  
  
“I know…it was wrong of me…” WooHyun looked at SungGyu with curiosity. “Do you remember anything?”  
  
“I remember you’re a good kisser.”  
  
WooHyun smiled. “I learned that from Flumes at the brothel. She was ugly as an Olbger is stinky, but she was a great kisser. She had a forked tongue.”  
  
“Forked tongue?”  
  
“She had a reptilian ancestry,” WooHyun explained. “She could do amazing things with her tongue.”  
  
“Your teen years were definitely interesting,” SungGyu said, unable to keep from smiling.  
  
“They were, but what about yours?”  
  
“When I was sixteen I was still trying to decide what I wanted to do with my life.”  
  
WooHyun looked taken aback. “That surprises me…I would have thought this would have been the life you were born into.”  
  
“Do you?”  
  
“Yeah…you seem so good at it.”  
  
SungGyu nodded his head in agreement. “I am good at it, but I had to come to the decision to join Starfleet on my own. In school my teachers were always telling me I was born to lead others…but I never sought it out. Most people start taking the academy entrance exams when they are fifteen, but not all.”  
  
“You didn’t?”  
  
“No, I waited till I was eighteen. I had to be sure…it was a big decision, and one I didn’t want to regret later in my life.”  
  
“So you were older than the other cadets in your class at the academy?”  
  
SungGyu chuckled. “No, most people have to take the exam many times before they pass it, and some never do. I was older than some, but not the oldest by far.”  
  
“How many times did you have to take it?”  
  
“Once.”  
  
WooHyun nudged SungGyu’s shoulder with his own. “You made the right decision.”  
  
“I did,” SungGyu said with confidence.  
  
“But I’m curious, what made you decide to join Starfleet?”  
  
SungGyu blushed slightly and told the young doctor, “It sounds cheesy.”  
  
The doctor took the ensign’s hand and told him encouragingly, “You can tell me. You should know that I have been called the King of Cheesy before.”  
  
“I bet you have.”  
  
“Tell me.”  
  
“No, we should get dressed and get to the briefing. I don’t want to be late.”  
  
“We won’t be late…tell me.”  
  
SungGyu squeezed the doctor’s hand and confided, “I was walking home one night and I just looked up at the stars, and I knew…”  
  
WooHyun nudged him again and prompted, “You knew what?”  
  
“I knew I didn’t want to live an ordinary life…I wanted to live an extraordinary one.”  
  
  
******************************  
  
“If you are trying to send me a telepathic message I’m not getting it,” Yunho told his mate who was sitting beside him at the conference table in sickbay for the early morning briefing. “It’s like mental static.”  
  
Jaejoong, who had been concentrating on communicating telepathically, grabbed Yunho’s hand.  _“This fucking day just keeps getting better and better.”  
  
“I got that.”  
  
“It is still working with physical contact, I see. I hate this!”  
  
“We knew this would happen,” Yunho soothed.  
  
“I don’t like it!”  
  
“I don’t like it either.”_  
  
SooYoung, who sat on the opposite side of Yunho, did her best to be as inconspicuous as possible.  
  
“And Changmin has decided to kick me as much as he can,” Jaejoong whined aloud, feeling sorry for himself. “The third trimester of pregnancy is by far the most uncomfortable…he’s either hiccupping or kicking me.”  
  
“Can’t you calm him down?”  
  
“Yes, but—”  
  
“But you are letting things distract you when…when you should be totally focused on Changmin. No wonder he is kicking you.”  
  
“Yunho…” Jaejoong warned.  
  
“I have very clear memories of how demanding he was as a child.”  
  
“And?”  
  
“If the child/birth-parent bond is half as strong as you have hinted…he’s very pissed right now. You should be playing less attention to me and focusing on him.”  
  
Jaejoong rolled his eyes. “You are being an ignorant human again.”  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
“Even now Changmin is aware of the power of our bond…he is not jealous of that which he is a product of; although, he of course prefers me over you.”  
  
“For now…”  
  
“That’s just being petty, Yunho.”  
  
“It’s a fact. He will grow up to love me best.”  
  
“I can’t believe you are fighting with me...” Jaejoong paused and pointed to SooYoung with open scorn and added telepathically,  _“In front of that woman.”  
  
“I am not fighting with you…we are having a discussion. I am reminding you, Changmin is not an ordinary Joong child…he’s half human. One that was very possessive and clingy as a child.”_  
  
Jaejoong huffed.  _“So you are saying he is more possessive because he is half human?”  
  
“Actually…he probably gets that from you…”  
  
“Yunho!”  
  
“What? I am not the possessive one in this relationship.”_  
  
Before Jaejoong could respond Dr. Cho walked in followed by Yoochun and Sungmin. Dr. Cho looked at the captain and regretfully told him, “40cms closer than they were yesterday.  
  
“Aren’t we the lucky ones,” Yoochun grumbled, sounding anything but lucky.  
  
Sungmin sighed and motioned toward the table. “I don’t feel lucky.”  
  
“It was sarcasm,” Yoochun explained as he took a seat next to Sungmin.  
  
“Do you know the exact time it shortened?” Yunho asked.  
  
“No,” Sungmin replied. “We were sitting next to each other and when we got up, we noticed the distance had shortened.”  
  
Yoochun added, “We can estimate it happened between 0600 and 0645”  
  
“The same with us,” Yunho told them.  
  
“What if it shortens after a certain time period?” Sungmin asked.  
  
“Let’s not speculate,” SooYoung warned.  
  
Yoochun winked and bumped his shoulder against Sungmin’s and stated, “Tomorrow might be too close for comfort.”  
  
“Indeed,” Jaejoong agreed, glaring at SooYoung.  
  
Ryeowook was about to comment when WooHyun and SungGyu walked through the door, holding hands.  
  
Yoochun shook his head in disappointment and mouthed, “Too busy strolling down the corridors hand in had to get to the briefing on time?”  
  
“It is 0657 and the briefing is at 0700, Commander,” SungGyu informed the Chief Engineer as he remained hand in hand with WooHyun and took a seat at the conference table. “So therefore we are not late.”  
  
Yoochun just smiled wistfully at SungGyu and stated, “This is why he is my favorite.”  
  
Yunho studied the two younger crew members and asked, “Why hand in hand?”  
  
“It is more efficient, Sir,” Ensign SungGyu replied.  
  
WooHyun nodded his head. “It prevents the stumbling when one of us walks out of the limited distance allowed.”  
  
“Yes, it would be beneficial,” SooYoung agreed, “especially now with the shortened distance.”  
  
Jaejoong frowned.  
  
“Shortened distance, Lieutenant?” SungGyu asked.  
  
“You haven’t noticed the distance being shortened?” Dr. Cho immediately asked.  
  
“No,” SungGyu answered.  
  
“They probably haven’t let go of each other since last night,” Yoochun pointed out. “How would they know?”  
  
“Stand up and test the distance allowed between you two,” Yunho ordered.  
  
WooHyun and SungGyu quickly got back up and WooHyun took one tentative step away from SungGyu and nothing happened.  
  
“Take another,” Yunho ordered.  
  
SungGyu took a step away from the young doctor, widening the distance between them without any ill effects.  
  
A surprised WooHyun then immediately took several steps away from SungGyu.  
  
“It seems to have disappeared,” SungGyu stated as he walked to the opposite side of the room.  
  
Ryeowook walked up to WooHyun and scanned him. “It does appear to be gone.”  
  
“I knew it,” Yoochun declared leaning back his seat. “Sex is the cure.”  
  
“We didn’t have sex,” WooHyun quickly responded.  
  
Yoochun furrowed his brow, suspiciously. “Really?”  
  
“We didn’t,” Ensign SungGyu confirmed.  
  
“Didn’t you two sleep together?” Ryeowook asked. “You left sickbay to return to your quarters.”  
  
“Yes, and we  _slept_ ,” WooHyun reiterated. “There was no exchange of bodily fluids.”  
  
“I get that,” Ryeowook quickly told his assistant. “But you slept…maybe sleeping is the cure.”  
  
“No,” SungGyu quickly objected. “We were still linked when we woke up this morning but when WooHyun says there was no exchange of bodily fluids that is not entirely accurate.”  
  
“Of course, there was an exchange of salvia!” An excited WooHyun blurted out. “We kissed—or I kissed Ensign SungGyu to be more exact.”  
  
Yoochun immediately spit into his hand and held it up to Sungmin and demanded, “Drink up.”  
  
“Like hell I will,” a stunned Sungmin hissed indignantly.  
  
“It’s the cure. I have a very important lunch date, so I can’t be kissing on you.”  
  
“Yoochun…” Yunho warned.  
  
“It wasn’t the kissing,” SungGyu stated. “After the kiss the bond was still intact.”  
  
“Link!” Jaejoong snapped. “It isn’t a bond, it is a link!”  
  
“It was?” Ryeowook asked, ignoring Jaejoong’s outburst.  
  
“Yes,” WooHyun agreed, remembering. “I almost jerked him out of bed, when I tried to get up.”  
  
SooYoung asked, “When was the last time you two were aware of the link?”  
  
SungGyu shared a look with WooHyun, pondering the lieutenant’s question. “I believe that was the last time we were aware of it.”  
  
“What exactly did you do after the last time you felt the link?” Yunho asked and then added, “Please sit back down.”  
  
SungGyu took his seat. “We talked, changed into our uniforms, and then we came to the briefing.”  
  
“That’s all we did,” WooHyun concurred as he also sat back down.  
  
SooYoung arched and eyebrow and asked, “What did you two talk about?”  
  
“Our pasts, mostly,” WooHyun answered.  
  
Jaejoong leaned forward studying the younger men and asked, “What emotions were you feeling while you talked?”  
  
“I felt embarrassed,” WooHyun admitted. “Ensign SungGyu was probably angry at me for kissing him.”  
  
“I wasn’t angry,” SungGyu corrected. “I was more amused than anything, and after we talked I felt...”  
  
“You felt what?” Jaejoong encouraged.  
  
SungGyu answered, “I felt closer to him.”  
  
“What the hell did you two talk about?” Yoochun demanded.  
  
“Like I said, we talked about our pasts,” WooHyun replied, hoping the subject of brothels and forked tongue prostitutes wouldn’t come up.  
  
Jaejoong smiled triumphantly.  
  
Ryeowook explained, “It is my theory that the link is intended to imitate the Joong bond. And as I said earlier, the Joong bond is mostly an emotional bond, and you two must have connected on an emotional level.”  
  
SooYoung nodded her head. “And once you connected the link dissipated.”  
  
“But they were already all  _tingly_  for each other,” Yoochun pointed out. “It wasn’t like they didn’t like each other before.”  
  
“Yoochun…” Yunho warned.  
  
“My guess it has nothing to do with feeling  _tingly_ ,” Ryeowook told him. “An emotional connection is the answer to dissolving the link.”  
  
“I get emotional when I feel _tingly_ ,” Yoochun stated, refusing to behave.  
  
Sungmin glared at the engineer. “You are not about to feel  _tingly_  with me, so let it go.”  
  
“You need to empathize with each other…bond emotionally. Share with each other,” Ryeowook explained.  
  
“With him?” Sungmin questioned, and then turned to look at Yoochun. “Are you even capable of empathy?”  
  
Yoochun looked extremely doubtful and asked Dr. Cho, “How can you be sure empathy is required? Shiny Boy, were you two emotional? Did you cry on each other shoulders?”  
  
“No,” SungGyu stated, frowning slightly at the engineer’s pet name for him. “Not at all, we simply shared stories of our past—there was no crying.”  
  
Jaejoong rolled his eyes at Yoochun. “You have very little understanding of empathy. I can’t say I am—”  
  
“That will be all. This briefing is over,” Yunho stated, interrupting Jaejoong. “Remember, this is just a theory. Ensign SungGyu and Dr. Nam report to Sickbay so Dr. Cho can fully examine you both. Yoochun and Sungmin…try to connect with each other. Do what you can so you two can feel closer to each other. SooYoung and I will do the same. Report immediately if the link dissipates or if there are any other changes.”  
  
  
  
*******************  
  
  
“This is  _your_  fault!”  
  
Eunhyuk winced. “I know.”  
  
Junsu was leaning against the wall outside of the engineering department. He was trying to muster up enough courage to go inside engineering and face the Chief Engineer. “Would it be extremely rude if I just called and told him lunch was off?”  
  
“You want the honest truth?”  
  
“Give it to me.”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
Junsu pushed off the wall and told his best friend, “I need you to lie to me right now. Tell me it is okay to be a coward.”  
  
“You just told me to be honest with you!”  
  
“I lied, so lie to me now.”  
  
“It’s okay to be a coward.”  
  
Junsu studied his friend, who did not sound convincing. “Say it again like you mean it.”  
  
Eunhyuk squared his shoulders and tried harder to sound persuasive. “You are not ready for this. You might not ever be ready for this. You are still in therapy…you don’t need this complication in your life right now.”  
  
Junsu lit up. “That’s perfect! Who were you channeling?”  
  
“A little bit of both Sungmin and Ryeowook,” Eunhyuk told him proudly.  
  
“Good job!”  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
“I am going to take the cowardly way out…because I’m totally a coward,” Junsu admitted to himself and Eunhyuk. Junsu then hit the insignia on his uniform and called out, “Commander Yoochun.”  
  
After only a short pause Commander Yoochun responded, “I hope I am not late for our very important date.”  
  
“No, not at all…it’s just that I need…” Junsu paused, feeling horribly guilty.  
  
“You need to what?”  
  
Junsu closed his eyes and blurted out, “I need to cancel lunch. I just…I am still in therapy and I think it’s a bad idea. I’m really sorry, Sir.”  
  
“Sir?”  
  
“Yes, I think it is best that we keep it…” Junsu paused. Junsu’s eyes flew open and he gave his friend a pleading look.  
  
Eunhyuk mouthed the word professional to his friend.  
  
“…keep it professional between us.”  
  
“I see.”  
  
“Sorry, Sir.”  
  
“Understood,” Commander Yoochun responded, abruptly ending the conversation without another word.  
  
Junsu leaned back against the wall and muttered, “I am such…such…such…”  
  
“A wimp,” Eunhyuk supplied.  
  
“I know.”  
  
Eunhyuk reached out and took Junsu by the arm and warned, “We better get going, unless you suddenly feel like facing him.”  
  
Junsu rushed down the corridor and away from engineering. “This is  _your_  fault,” Junsu repeated from earlier.  
  
“I know. I know.  
  
*****************  
  
Sungmin tried to remain quiet as Commander Yoochun ripped the hearts out of his engineering staff, threw them on the floor, and stomped on them.  
  
“Efficiency is down half a percent from yesterday? From yesterday!” Commander Yoochun seethed as he stalked the corridors of engineering, dragging Sungmin along with him as he hunted down fresh prey to feed upon.  
  
“You all are dim-witted intellectual rejects! You should be working on a Klingon waste barge and not a starship! You are a disgrace to—”  
  
A perfectly placed elbow to the gut had Commander Yoochun shutting up. Sungmin smiled at the cowering engineering crew and told them, “We are going to go talk in Commander Yoochun’s office. Keep up the good work.”  
  
The engineering watched in relief as Sungmin pushed Yoochun into the engineer’s office.  
  
“You are a real bastard,” Sungmin told Yoochun once the doors were closed.  
  
Yoochun just glared.  
  
“I know Junsu hurt you, but to take it out on your subordinates—that is not cool.”  
  
“Feel free to run your department as you see fit, but don’t interfere with how I run mine…mine is actually essential to the ship.”  
  
Sungmin narrowed his eyes. “All departments on this ship are essential.”  
  
Yoochun scoffed. “Anybody—even those of limited intelligence, can fire a phaser or babysit crazy Commander Leeteuk.”  
  
“You are just a psycho aren’t you?” Sungmin demanded as he clenched his fists, hating that he couldn’t get away from the other man.  
  
Yoochun’s whole demeanor changed as he let out loud chuckle, then sat down on the floor laughing, pulling a stunned Sungmin down with him.  
  
Sungmin sat on the floor beside the engineer mystified at what he found so funny. “How am I supposed to connect with you, when you are like this?”  
  
Yoochun just continued to laugh.  
  
“I am serious!” Sungmin exclaimed. “You made your people feel like incompetent fools…and loved it. You took pleasure in hurting them.”  
  
Yoochun stopped laughing.  
  
“I have heard the stories about how awful you are, but I have never been witness to it on this kinda scale. I would take up space diving without a spacesuit before I would work for you.”  
  
Yoochun closed his eyes.  
  
“Are you even listening to me?”  
  
“Yes,” Yoochun answered. “I was a little extreme.”  
  
“A little extreme?”  
  
Yoochun’s eyes remained closed and he answered, “It is my nature.”  
  
“Well, your personality needs an adjustment.”  
  
“It isn’t a matter of personality,” Yoochun said softly as he turned to look at Sungmin. “It goes much deeper than a personality disorder.”  
  
Sungmin’s eyes widened. “What do you mean?”  
  
“You must promise me that if I entrust you with this secret it does not go farther than this room.”  
  
“I can’t promise you that…not if it endangers the ship,” Sungmin replied, honestly.  
  
“Fair enough, but I do not want it discussed trivially—I do not want you confiding in your friends—none of them. The captain and Dr. Cho are both aware of what I am about to tell you.”  
  
Sungmin swallowed nervously, and agreed, “Okay…”  
  
“We need to connect…and this might help you to understand me better.”  
  
“All right, tell me.”  
  
Yoochun stared Sungmin in the eyes and softly stated, “The activity in my orbital cortex was almost nonexistent when I was born.”  
  
“Oh,” Sungmin muttered, trying to hide his surprise. “But that doesn’t—”  
  
“I also have the genetic variant…the Warrior Gene as they called it in more primitive times,” Yoochun interrupted to tell him.  
  
“But you have been treated,” Sungmin blurted out. “If you hadn’t been you couldn’t be in Starfleet.”  
  
“True, I have been treated…I was treated for many years,” Yoochun explained.  
  
Sungmin was unable to hide his shock as he repeated, “For many years.”  
  
Yoochun nodded. “I failed all manner of psychological tests as a child.”  
  
“What do you mean…you failed them?”  
  
“When I was showed pictures of puppies as a child…I didn’t want to pet them, I wanted to dissect them,” Yoochun answered flatly. “I did not bond with my parents as an infant.”  
  
Sungmin stood up and demanded, “Are you fucking with me?”  
  
Yoochun, who had been pulled up along with Sungmin, answered, “No, I am not. I was a very ill child. I spent a great deal of my childhood in therapy being reprogrammed.”  
  
Sungmin tried to shake off his uneasiness and stated, “They must have been successful.”  
  
“I don’t want to murder anybody if that is what you are asking.”  
  
“Yeah, that’s what I’m asking,” Sungmin admitted.  
  
Yoochun motioned Sungmin toward the desk so they could lean against it. “My orbital cortex works at normal levels now and I have had gene therapy, my body now produces sufficient amounts of serotonin.”  
  
“But there is still…something dark about you,” Sungmin couldn’t keep from saying as he felt his skin crawl.  
  
“Dark?” Yoochun repeated, letting out a soft laugh. “My personality is dark—I know this. I do tend to be possessive and I have a temper.”  
  
Sungmin nodded his head in agreement.  
  
“The psychiatrist told my parents I would have most likely died young from high risk taking behaviors or with my considerable intelligence I would have been a very prolific serial killer if I had been born a few hundred years earlier.”  
  
“Did you know…this when you were a kid?” Sungmin asked, darting his eyes to look at the man leaning against the desk beside him. “It must have been hard…knowing you were different.”  
  
“I was a diagnosed sociopath until I was approximately eight years old, so I did not care what others thought.”  
  
“It took that long for them to cure you?”  
  
Yoochun nodded his head. “It did. The rewiring of my thought process took the longest. Everything they tried kept failing…until they made me go see a Betazoid psychiatrist. I can not begin to tell you how grueling those sessions were.”  
  
Sungmin’s mouth dropped open. It was not a secret on the ship that Yoochun was not Jaejoong’s biggest fan. “No wonder you don’t like telepaths.”  
  
“You don’t understand…it wasn’t the telepathy that bothered me, it was the empathy. A skilled empath, especially one like my Betazoid psychiatrist, can subject you to a barrage of emotions. Emotions I wasn’t used to feeling…and they had to make me learn to feel them all.”  
  
“Oh…”  
  
“It was torture at times, but it worked. By the time my sessions with her ended…I was capable of not just observing emotions in others but feeling them myself. When the sessions first started she would telepathically convince me my parents were dead, and I did not care, but by the end of our sessions I was bawling like a baby.”  
  
“They convinced you your parents died?” Sungmin asked, taken aback.  
  
“Yeah, and a lot of other stuff…but she also taught me to be happy and be happy for others. She had to teach me to experience emotions…until it came naturally to me. I am not saying I am some great human being—but I can feel for others and I can feel emotions now.”  
  
“How long did you see her?”  
  
“I saw her for many years. The first year I saw her daily; I even traveled back to Betazoid with her a few times. After a couple years the therapy time started dwindling down. When I started taking the entrance exams to Starfleet I would still see her occasionally, but not routinely. I was just very fond of the old crow by then,” Yoochun said with a grin.  
  
“Old crow?”  
  
“She was really old, it was the name I gave her as a kid...I used to hate her. Hate for her was the first real emotion I ever experienced,” Yunchun said with a chuckle.  
  
Sungmin smiled weakly. “So by the time you joined Starfleet you didn’t have to see her anymore?”  
  
“No, I met Yunho at the entrance exams…” Yoochun paused to smile. “And once I met Yunho she said I was cured.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yunho was the first friend I ever had. My friendship with Yunho is the healthiest relationship I’ve ever had.”  
  
“Did he know about you back then?”  
  
Yoochun nodded. “Yeah, I told him. I was already mentally stable…I mean, if I wasn’t I would have never been able to sit for the Starfleet entrance exams. I have always confided in him…from the very beginning of our friendship.”  
  
“Your friendship with the captain  _is_  pretty awesome,” Sungmin commented.  
  
“It is.”  
  
Sungmin reached down and took Yoochun’s hand and squeezed it. “But what about Junsu?”  
  
Yoochun sighed and admitted, “There is a part of me that knows it would be very wise to give up any thoughts of being with him. Unlike my friendship with the captain…I do not feel the Old Crow would approve of my feelings for Junsu. Yunho doesn’t approve of my feelings for Junsu.”  
  
“Why not?”  
  
“You know why not…Junsu brings out all sorts of nasty feelings in me…obsession, possessiveness, but he also makes me so happy. He’s everything I am not…he’s so good. He’s happy, he’s kind, he’s positive, and he’s loved by so many.”  
  
“Do you love him?”  
  
“I want him so badly that it physically hurts me at times.”  
  
“That isn’t what I asked.”  
  
Yoochun reached up, ran his hand through his short hair and admitted, “I think I do. It sounds crazy but I think I do. When I say I want him…it isn’t just sexually…I just like being near him. I want him with me.”  
  
“But you want him sexually, too?”  
  
“Hell, yes…perhaps too much.”  
  
“I understand.”  
  
Yoochun turned and looked at Sungmin. “Siwon?”  
  
“Yes, I wanted him sexually for so long…”  
  
“And now you have him.”  
  
“And I don’t think I want him anymore.”  
  
“He was that disappointing?”  
  
“I just feel…like I am not what he truly wants—I hate that feeling. It casts a dark shadow on everything.”  
  
Yoochun nodded his head in understanding. “Some people have no gender preference when it comes to sex, but if they do…I don’t think it is an easy thing to overcome. Like Junsu…if he really prefers women then I need to stop, right now.”  
  
“I don’t think Junsu even knows what he wants,” Sungmin confessed to the engineer. “I really don’t think he knows.”  
  
“But Siwon?”  
  
“Siwon never lied to me; I will give him that.”  
  
Yoochun stretched has arms out over his head. “Yes, he is disgustingly decent.”  
  
Sungmin laughed. “Tell me about it.”  
  
“We should just team up and celebrate our love of cock together,” Yoochun teased, wrapping an arm around Sungmin.  
  
Sungmin laughed and pushed the engineer away. “You jest. You are the most bisexual per—”  
  
“It’s broken!” Yoochun yelled out in excitement as he stepped away from Sungmin.  
  
“It is!” Sungmin shouted gleefully as he stepped farther away from Yoochun.  
  
Yoochun grinned at Sungmin as he tapped his insignia. “Captain, Sungmin and I have had our moment and the link is gone.”


	3. Taemin

“How did you not know?” L asked.  
  
SungGyu attempted to explain the situation to the pilot. “We just didn’t. It was still there when we woke up, and we didn’t imagine it would go away so easily.”  
  
WooHyun, who was sitting next to SungGyu at the table in the mess hall, interjected, “Plus, we were in a hurry to get to the briefing.”  
  
DongWoo, who was sitting next to L across from SungGyu and WooHyun, grinned and declared, “I think love is in the air. Are you two in love?”  
  
“Yes,” WooHyun answered at the same time as SungGyu who declared adamantly, “No!”  
  
WooHyun quickly added, “I am in love with this ship. This is such a nice ship. What is there not to love about this ship?”  
  
“Well, it is too bad Hoya isn’t here to see this. He would really enjoy the two of you,” L told them, smirking at the flabbergasted look on SungGyu’s face.  
  
“My bestie! How I miss him,” DongWoo whimpered, while remembering his old friend from the academy.  
  
SungGyu’s face hardened. “I don’t miss him at all.”  
  
L continued to smirk. “Just because he would give you shit for not noticing you weren’t still linked. He would have loved it.”  
  
WooHyun, who had never heard of the Hoya person before, was very curious. “Who was he?”  
  
SungGyu propped his arms on the table and announced, “Somebody who wishes he was half as gifted as me.”  
  
DongWoo leaned down and whispered across the table to WooHyun, “They were rivals.”  
  
“You know I can hear you, and we most certainly were not rivals,” SungGyu snapped.  
  
“He thought you were,” L reminded the older ensign.  
  
An irritated SungGyu clasped his hands together and intertwined his long, delicate fingers. “His major was in security, how big of a rival could he have been?”  
  
“You wound me,” DongWoo said pretending to sob as he reached up and clutched his heart.  
  
WooHyun just sat mesmerized as he tried to learn more about the three men and the dynamics of their relationships with each other.  
  
“And you wonder why Lieutenant Lee hates you!” L said unable to hide his giggle. “No wonder he gave you a roommate.”  
  
“He doesn’t hate me,” SungGyu barked at L and then focused on DongWoo. “Stop acting like I hurt your feelings, because we both know you knew what I meant. You always wanted to work in Starfleet security, but Hoya didn’t. He wanted to be in command, but he couldn’t pass the leadership exams. Therefore you are amazingly awesome, while he continues to suck at life.”  
  
WooHyun turned to look at SungGyu. “You really don’t like this Hoya person.”  
  
SungGyu looked back at WooHyun and explained, “It’s not that I don’t like him—it’s that giving me a hard time is his favorite thing to do. It gets old after awhile.”  
  
“And you don’t dislike him?” WooHyun stated. “I think I would. I will dislike him for you.”  
  
“WooHyun, you have to understand something about our future starship captain here, he won’t ever admit to excessive dislike of anybody. It would be admitting that something actually got to him—he has to act cool,” L told the doctor.  
  
“It isn’t an act,” DongWoo insisted. “He doesn’t let things get to him like other people do. That’s why he is going to be Captain SungGyu and I am going to be his head of security someday.”  
  
L rolled his eyes. “He will be a captain someday, but he lets things get to him.”  
  
DongWoo shook his head at L. “You will never be his number one helmsman if you keep up this attitude.”  
  
SungGyu let a small yawn. “L, when have you ever seen somebody get to me?”  
  
WooHyun helpfully answered for L, “I’ve seen you riled up.”  
  
“You have seen me _slightly_  annoyed…I wasn’t riled up.”  
  
WooHyun snorted. “You practically nagged poor Junsu to death because he fell asleep on Kanzi.”  
  
SungGyu leaned away from WooHyun, taken back by his statement. “Excuse me? He fell asleep while watching over the critically injured captain. He jeopardized the whole mission; of course I was rightfully annoyed. It could have cost the captain his life.”  
  
“You were nagging,” WooHyun maintained.  
  
“He does nag,” L agreed. “A lot.”  
  
“He was probably jealous that Ensign Junsu got to nap and he didn’t,” DongWoo wisely pointed out to the other three men.  
  
“Oh, you are probably right!” WooHyun said with a gasp, realizing the security officer was a lot smarter than he let on.  
  
  
***************************  
  
  
Yunho walked into Sulli’s sickbay room with SooYoung closely at his side. He stared at the young woman in the bed, who appeared to be sleeping. “She looks as if she might awaken at any moment.”  
  
“If only,” SooYoung responded.  
  
Yunho turned away from the sleeping girl to look at the lieutenant he was linked to; an invisible connection created by an ancient device that still eluded their understanding. They were the last ones still linked…the others had all found their solution to the problem. They had related to each other in a way he and SooYoung had not. “I know Jaejoong has made it difficult for you, but I ask that you understand where he is coming from. It is a difficult time for him. He isn’t used to not being able to read the minds of others at will.”  
  
“And my mind has always been closed to him…a reason to be distrustful.”  
  
“Yes,” Yunho agreed. “He once compared his empathic abilities to hearing…one does not choose when to hear; if you have the ability it’s always there. He also compared his telepathic abilities to sight. For all of his life it has been as easy as opening his eyes to know the minds of others.”  
  
“And his empathic abilities have always showed him the hearts of others,” SooYoung added.  
  
Yunho smiled. “Exactly.”  
  
SooYoung reached down and touched her cousin’s bed. “It is strange that Joongs lose their abilities when they are pregnant…when they have so much to protect.”  
  
“It is unfortunate…they just become so enraptured with the new life inside of them they can not see…feel anything else.”  
  
“But his bond with you remains intact?”  
  
“Always, until our death…”  
  
“Is it lost in death? I thought you were drawn to each other over and over in each life?”  
  
Yunho shook his head. “Our timeless love draws us together…but our bond is only for this life.”  
  
“Are you in love in every alternate reality?”  
  
“No, I suppose not…the Guardian did say in some lives we meet for only a moment…but that one moment resonates with us for all of our lives.”  
  
SooYoung reached up and wiped one stray tear from her face. “It’s so ironic that you are telling me this…when it is Sulli who always was the romantic one. The one that believed in true love…dreamed of having her own true love. I was the practical one growing up…the one that was more interested in science than romance.”  
  
Yunho looked back down at the young woman they had rescued from such an awful fate on Belara. “I wish things could have been different for her.”  
  
“It was her fate; it was a cruel fate…but it was hers. I think she was meant to find Changmin on that cursed planet. I think it was their fate.”  
  
“Their fate?”  
  
“I believe that Sulli and Changmin were bonded,” SooYoung confessed.  
  
Yunho’s eyes widened. “Changmin believed otherwise.”  
  
“I think Sulli is the reason he believed otherwise…she lied to him,” SooYoung explained.  
  
“What lie did she tell?”  
  
Before SooYoung betrayed her cousin’s secret, she asked, “Is it true Joongs take on the appearance of their mate’s ideal mate when they bond?”  
  
Yunho frowned. “So I have been told.”  
  
“Changmin once asked Sulli what her ideal mate resembled,” SooYoung explained.  
  
“Yes,” Yunho stated, nodded his head. He remembered a relieved Changmin telling him the story. “And she told him about a gymnast that could not have been more different from my son.”  
  
SooYoung sat down on the side of her cousin’s bed and said sadly, “She lied.”  
  
“Explain.”  
  
“Sulli was like my little sister…she told me everything and the gymnast of Gurrin 5 was not her prince—the prince she dreamed of as a young girl...the prince that saved her in a dream,” SooYoung explained.  
  
“A prince?”  
  
“Yes, a tall, brilliant, aloof prince…who was cold toward others, but showed her great affection.”  
  
“Oh God,” Yunho closed his eyes, realizing what he was being told.  
  
“I admired your son and I was very attracted to him, although it was completely one sided…I don’t even think he acknowledged it. When I first showed his image to Sulli…I saw the recognition in her eyes, although she tried to hide it. Not until now did I realize how important that look of recognition was.”  
  
“Why would she not tell him?”  
  
SooYoung shrugged. “I don’t know…unless the trauma of what happened to her was too much, or maybe the sweet innocent dreams of the prince she once longed for were lost to her in the hell that was her life on Belara.”  
  
Yunho gazed down at the sleeping girl and confessed, “He was terribly attached to her…Jaejoong and I both suspected they were bonded.”  
  
“She probably knew…down deep inside of her, but she just couldn’t admit it. She wasn’t ready to admit it…not to herself and not to him.”  
  
Yunho closed his eyes remembering the man…his son that he still missed. “He wasn’t ready either.”  
  
SooYoung said wistfully, “And now she is Sleeping Beauty, lost to a love that never was.”  
  
Yunho felt a deep pang in his heart for what his son had been denied—what time had robbed him of. Before he could respond his insignia chirped. Yunho immediately reached up and tapped it, “Captain here.”  
  
“Sir,” Kyuhyun’s voice immediately replied. “We have encountered an anomaly that consists of the same substances as the one that transported us to this galaxy…it appears to be following us, but it is maintaining a safe distance from us at this time.”  
  
“I’m on my way,” Yunho stated, heading toward the door, without waiting for SooYoung.  
  
SooYoung, who followed after the captain, noticed the distance between them. “Sir, it appears the link binding us together is gone.”  
  
“On to the next crisis then, Lieutenant,” Yunho stated as they both rushed toward the bridge.  
  
*****************  
  
  
Ryeowook walked into the captain’s quarters and proclaimed, “I better not need my thermals or I’m leaving.”  
  
Jaejoong, who was in the kitchen, asked the doctor, “What are thermals?”  
  
“They are under clothing made to retain body heat. My grandmother always made me wear them in the winter,” Ryeowook explained as he walked towards the kitchen.  
  
“So this was a jest regarding my recent love for cooler temperatures?”  
  
“Yep,” Ryeowook answered as he took a seat at the kitchen table. “I would describe them as freezing temperatures though.”  
  
Jaejoong looked down at the pot on the stove that he was stirring. “I have moved past that phase.”  
  
“What have you moved on to now…dare I ask?”  
  
“Redecoration…these quarters, while nice, are not worthy of a prince of Joong and his child.”  
  
Ryeowook looked around the quarters in question. “But you have already redecorated them…this is pretty lavish for Starfleet.”  
  
Jaejoong stepped away from the stove. “I want it to be even better. More organized.”  
  
“So you are in the nesting phase.”  
  
“Nesting phase?”  
  
“It’s a stage of pregnancy where the expectant mother—birth-parent in your case—wants to get everything ready for the baby. It usually involves extensive cleaning, but with the housekeeping bots you don’t have to worry about cleaning.”  
  
“I will admit to manually rinsing out a glass earlier—it was startling,” Jaejoong admitted as he sat down at the table beside his friend.  
  
“I bet.”  
  
“But I’m willing to try anything to take my mind off the fact that my Yunho is with  _that woman_.”  
  
“Her name is Lieutenant SooYoung.”  
  
“He refused to let me go with him and  _that woman_  to visit Sulli in hopes they could have a moment…” Jaejoong paused as he his eyes took on a tint of green. “A moment…a moment with  _that woman_  and without me—his bond mate.”  
  
“That’s really creepy how your eyes do that,” Ryeowook said with a shudder.  
  
“Do what?”  
  
“They turned green for a second.”  
  
Jaejoong shrugged, unbothered by Ryeowook’s observation. “Why are you here?”  
  
“Can’t I just be here visiting a friend?”  
  
“Don’t mess with me,” Jaejoong warned. “It is difficult enough not knowing what people are thinking; don’t take advantage of the situation. I won’t be pregnant forever.”  
  
“No, you are at 32 weeks now, so not much longer,” Ryeowook agreed.  
  
“It will slow,” Jaejoong snapped. “I know it hasn’t yet, but it will.”  
  
Ryeowook looked at Jaejoong’s belly that looked like it might pop any minute. “So you keep on saying.”  
  
“It has slowed some.”  
  
“No, it hasn’t.”  
  
Jaejoong pouted. “Tell me why you are here, and don’t you dare lie.”  
  
“The whole not being able to read minds is driving you crazy isn’t it,” Ryeowook observed, unable to hide his amusement.  
  
“I hate it,” Jaejoong admitted. “It is horrible!”  
  
“You can’t sense anything?”  
  
“My empathic abilities are not completely lost…yet,” Jaejoong grumbled. “I have to touch Yunho in order to communicate telepathically.”  
  
“You do know…you have nothing to worry about,” Ryeowook soothed. “Yunho would never cheat on you.”  
  
Jaejoong frowned. “I know Yunho would never cheat on me. I just don’t trust  _that woman_ —I just know she knows more about Changmin’s disappearance than she lets on.”  
  
“Changmin was the smartest person I ever knew—nobody got one over on him. Changmin willingly made her his accomplice, and I personally don’t think she is hiding anything.”  
  
“You wouldn’t…you are so good at giving people the benefit of the doubt—unless they are poor Kyuhyun.”  
  
“Poor Kyuhyun…”a dumbfounded Ryeowook barely managed to say.  
  
“You heard me. You treat him so badly, it’s such a crime.”  
  
“He cheated on me,” Ryeowook sputtered, completely taken aback by Jaejoong’s words.  
  
Jaejoong leaned back in his chair and stated, “My telepathy was working back then and he didn’t cheat on you. He wasn’t even sure he was going to.”  
  
“Bullshit! He wanted to!”  
  
“Just because somebody has the urge to do something doesn’t mean they do it,” Jaejoong reminded the doctor as he rubbed his tummy. “I fear I did Kyuhyun no favors when I eased his suffering after we rescued him.”  
  
“Why do you say that?”  
  
“Maybe if you had seen him completely terrified and traumatized you would have been more sympathetic to his plight.”’  
  
“I was sympathetic!”  
  
“Being raped and tortured for the second time in his short life…the poor man,” Jaejoong said, full of sympathy. “I should have just erased all his memories.”  
  
Ryeowook folded his arms and repeated, “I was sympathetic!”  
  
“Not enough, he needs you…and yet you shun him.”  
  
“This is bull-crap and especially coming from you of all people! If Yunho even looked like he was interested in somebody…heck he doesn’t even have to be interested for you to throw a jealous fit!”  
  
“I admit to being jealous, but I would never give Yunho up. I would never abandon our love so easily, and surely not for a reason as flimsy as a bruised ego. I would never push Yunho away if he were suffering. I would never do that, and especially not when he needed me the most.”  
  
“You think…”  
  
“Yes, I do. He’s hurt and he needs your help. You’re a doctor; show some compassion for the man that loves you—that you love. He might have faltered in your eyes, but the only perfect being on this ship is me—and you can’t have me,” Jaejoong stated matter-of-factly as he got up from the table and headed back to the stove.  
  
“Pa…wha…you are crazy if you think I want you…there is only one man on this ship brave enough to take you on,” Ryeowook threw back at the Joong.  
  
Jaejoong stood behind the stove and smiled at Ryeowook. “That’s true. Yunho is brave, heroic, and handsome. I love him so much.”  
  
“Yes, everybody knows how much you love Yunho.”  
  
“Do you even remember what is like to enjoy love…to bask in it?”  
  
“I haven’t really had much reason to bask in it.”  
  
Jaejoong grunted. “You could forgive him…you could try to be happy.”  
  
“I want to be happy!”  
  
“You cling to the miserable.”  
  
“I do not.”  
  
“You love Kyuhyun, yet you push him away.”  
  
“Jaejoong, you are about to get on my last nerve!”  
  
“The truth hurts; now tell me why you really came here.”  
  
“He wrote me a letter,” Ryeowook blurted out. “I didn’t want to read it…I wanted to burn it…but I didn’t. I have it. I haven’t read it though…because I know it will be full of wonderful words that will make me fall in love him all over again. There, are you happy?”  
  
Jaejoong rolled his eyes and grabbed for two bowls. “No, my mate is off emotionally connecting with some closed minded she-devil, so no I am not happy, but I am not surprised you could not throw the letter away—since you love him! You do not have to fall back in love with him…you never fell out of love with him. Did you?”  
  
Ryeowook looked down to his lap and confessed, “No.”  
  
“Did you bring the letter?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Why?”  
  
“I was afraid you would make me read it.”  
  
“You were correct,” Jaejoong said with a smile. “Want some pudding?”  
  
“Pudding?” Ryeowook asked, looking up at the Joong startled by the abrupt change in the conversation.  
  
“Yes,” Jaejoong answered. “Yunho told me his mother used to make him and Changmin butterscotch pudding and I am trying to master it.”  
  
“Okay…”  
  
“You still have time with Kyuhyun,” Jaejoong reminded the doctor as he walked back to the table holding the two bowls. “But time is a precious gift that should not be wasted.”  
  
Ryeowook watched as Jaejoong set the bowls on the table. “You are so strange.”  
  
Jaejoong, who was still standing, patted Ryeowook’s head and explained, “I am just a very complex being beyond your limited understanding.”  
  
Ryeowook shook his head as his friend sat down at the table beside him. “If moody is another word for complex, then yes, you are.”  
  
“What kind of friend would I be if I continued to allow you to think that giving up on love was the right thing to do?”  
  
“A bad one.”  
  
“And I am not a bad friend.”  
  
The doctor smiled and picked up the spoon. “No; you aren’t always gentle with the truth, but you do get your point across.”  
  
“Yes, I do,” Jaejoong agreed as he watched Ryeowook sample the pudding. “What do you think?”  
  
“Oh, it’s good. Changmin will love it.”  
  
“Changmin isn’t getting any of this.”  
  
“Huh?” Ryeowook asked. “Obviously I don’t mean as a newborn, but soon enough he will be able to eat pudding.”  
  
Jaejoong looked at the doctor as if he were mad. “I am not feeding him.”  
  
“You have to feed him,” Ryeowook insisted.  
  
“No, I’m not,” Jaejoong maintained as he leaned back in the chair and looked at Ryeowook as if the doctor had grown an extra head.  
  
“You can’t starve a baby!”  
  
“The bond will sustain him! I’m not feeding him! If I feed him I’d have to clean—”  
  
“Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert on Deck fourteen,” the ship’s main computer announced with alarms blaring and red lights flashing, interrupting Jaejoong.  
  
Ryeowook quickly got up out of his seat. “I didn’t know there were beings in this part of space that were capable…” Ryeowook paused as he noticed that Jaejoong appeared to be in a trance. “Jaejoong!” Ryeowook cried out as he reached out and grabbed the Joong by the shoulders shaking him.  
  
Jaejoong snapped out of his trance like state and stood up and told the doctor, “I could barely sense it…but I did…a bond…and now it is gone.”  
  
“Yunho?”  
  
“No…the birth/parent bond.”  
  
Ryeowook looked at Jaejoong’s belly. “Changmin?”  
  
“No,” Jaejoong answered as he headed toward the door. “There is another.”  
  
  
*************************  
  
“Admit it, your sister likes me,” Ensign Jonghyun said badgering Ensign Minho as they both walked down the Expectation’s corridor on Deck fourteen.  
  
Ensign Minho looked down at the shorter man. “Trust me…she doesn’t.”  
  
Jonghyun looked up at Minho confidently and vowed, “She will though…she will, especially if you put in a good word for me.”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Dude, how can you say that? I thought we were friends?”  
  
“We are friends,” Minho told the other man. “My sister is the only conscious girl on this ship and she has enough to deal with—without me trying to fix her up. Plus, she is busy trying not to get killed by Jaejoong right now.”  
  
Jonghyun let out a laugh. “I bet.”  
  
Minho grinned, shaking his head at his sister’s predicament. “Of all the places to be standing, she would—”  
  
Jonghyun and Minho came to an abrupt stop as two boys appeared suddenly in the corridor in front of them. Instantly the ship’s alarms went off, red lights flashed, and the ship’s computer repeatedly announced, “Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert on Deck fourteen.”  
  
The two boys who had suddenly appeared seemed to be in their early teens, and they looked very different from each other. One was androgynous in appearance with short blond hair, blue eyes, and appeared older. The younger appearing one was more masculine looking and had brown hair and eyes. They were wearing matching blue jumpsuits.  
  
The boy with the brown hair yelled to the other one, “Close your mind!”  
  
The blond brought his hands up to his face and chanted, “Close! Close! Close! Close! Close!”  
  
“Oh….God…this is the Expectations!” The younger boy exclaimed as he gracefully whirled in circles familiarizing himself with his surroundings.  
  
“Taemin, is he here?”  
  
The boy shook his head. “I don’t feel him.”  
  
“If it is the Expectations then that means your—”  
  
“Hush, we shouldn’t talk. The ship records everything we say.”  
  
The blond anxiously yelled, “Now I can’t talk either! It isn’t like it matters! Your BP is going to come here and flay my mind open and rip all my secrets from me!”  
  
“We are most likely in another reality, like before.”  
  
“Who are you?” demanded Ensign Minho, who had recovered from the initial shock of seeing two unfamiliar boys appearing in front of him.  
  
“Identify yourselves!” Ensign Jonghyun, who had also collected his wits, ordered.  
  
The boy named Taemin looked at the two ensigns and the unmistakable look of recognition showed on his face, even as he lied to them, “We are just a figment of your imagination.”  
  
As if on command Ensigns Minho and Jonghyun appeared suddenly confused and just stared at the boys saying nothing more.  
  
“Uh-uh…why do I ever go anywhere with you,” the blond complained.  
  
The boy, who was staring intently at Minho and Jonghyun, yelled excitedly, “This reality is like our own…it has to be…the Custos Humanae Vitae should be here!”  
  
“I don’t want to wear—”  
  
“Too bad, you don’t have a choice,” Taemin told the blond, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him down the corridor in the opposite direction of the ensigns. “Jaejoong is here.”  
  
“He’s here?” The blond asked, swallowing nervously. “If he is here…it’s already too late! Tell my parents I loved them.”  
  
“No, it isn’t too late! I can sense him, but something is off with him—but I am not going to stick around to investigate what,” Taemin explained as he increased his pace.  
  
“I am all for leaving this ship as quickly as possible!”  
  
“Also, security is on their way.”  
  
“Great,” the blond groaned as they raced down the corridor.  
  
“How close are they?”  
  
“Close,” Taemin answered as they promptly ran into six security officers with their phasers drawn. The racing boys slowed only long enough for Taemin to order “Sleep!”  
  
The security officers yawned, dropped their phasers, slumped down on the floor, and fell fast asleep.  
  
  
******************  
  
“Beam them directly to the planet,” Yunho ordered from the top level of the bridge after watching the incident play out on deck fourteen on the large screen at the front of the bridge.  
  
SooYoung commented from the science station, “Wise decision, Captain.”  
  
Kyuhyun walked up to the captain and asked, “They seem to know Jaejoong…were they Joong?”  
  
“I think one of them was a Joong,” Eunhyuk offered from his post at the front of the at the navigator’s post. “His gender seemed a little iffy.”  
  
“The other kid seemed to be in charge though,” Junsu pointed out.  
  
“Yeah, he was in charge,” Eunhyuk agreed.  
  
Yunho walked down to the lower level of the bridge. “At the moment I am more concerned about the anomaly we encountered before the Intruder Alert went off. It passed through our shields as if they weren’t even there.”  
  
“Sir, it greatly resembled the anomaly that sent us here, except 10, 000 times smaller,” Lieutenant SooYoung answered. “It was made up of the same substances.”  
  
An alarmed Yunho looked at his only female officer. “Are you feeling alright?”  
  
“Perfectly,” SooYoung answered. “Also there are no reports of injuries at this time.”  
  
Kyuhyun asked, “Captain, did you think our visitors caused the anomaly?”  
  
“I don’t think so,” Yunho answered. “Not intentionally.”  
  
“Sir, why have you come to this conclusion?” A surprised SooYoung asked as the doors to the bridge whooshed open and Jaejoong and Dr. Cho arrived.  
  
Yunho eyed his mate, while he answered Lieutenant SooYoung’s question. “It’s because I believe they may be my children from the future.”  
  
Jaejoong shook his head. “No, I only felt a bond with one of them. My telepathic powers are all but gone, but I felt…the birth-parent bond before I was quite effectively blocked.”  
  
“You were blocked?” Yunho asked, surprised.  
  
Jaejoong shrugged. “In this state…yes.”  
  
“Which one was your kid?” Junsu asked from the front of the bridge, curiously.  
  
“If I had to guess…it was the one named Taemin,” Yunho answered.  
  
Junsu nodded his head. “Maybe that is why he seems so familiar.”  
  
“What about the other one,” Kyuhyun asked, “the one that appeared to be a Joong?”  
  
“I felt the presence of another Joong…for a moment,” Jaejoong explained. “He quickly closed his mind—not that I would have tried to read his mind even if I were at full strength; not knowing if they came from our future or a different reality.”  
  
“The boy the captain believes to be your future child suggested that they were in another reality. He recognized the Expectations and he mentioned the Custos Humanae Vitae,” SooYoung offered.  
  
Jaejoong sneered in instant hatred at the mention of the necklace. “Why did he mention the necklace?”  
  
Yunho answered as we walked up the top level of the bridge to join Jaejoong. “I believe he was going to make the other one wear it.”  
  
Jaejoong walked over to Yunho and took his hand and clasped it. “If I weren’t pregnant I could easily overtake another Joong—several in fact, but not one of our children. I would never risk breaking through their shields. The only times I ever asserted my powers over Changmin I left him muddled and confused.”  
  
“But Changmin had no understanding of telepathy, this child did not suffer from any such disadvantage,” Yunho pointed out.  
  
“No,” Kyuhyun agreed. “He wielded his mental powers without any hesitation. He put the security guards to sleep with ease.”  
  
Jaejoong frowned. “And he did all of it while blocking me.”  
  
“But like you said, you are not yourself,” Yunho reminded his mate.  
  
“No, but to block the bond between a child and his birth-parent takes great skill and concentration,” Jaejoong explained.  
  
“What do you expect from a child of yours?” Kyuhyun asked with a grin. “Considering Changmin was also your child.”  
  
Ryeowook couldn’t keep from smiling. “Exactly, we are lucky he didn’t take over the ship while he was here.”  
  
“He might be young, but he comes from very strong stock,” Junsu happily added from his position at the helm.  
  
SooYoung, who was also smiling, reminded the others, “We still do not know why they appeared.”  
  
“That’s what I am going to find out,” Yunho replied. “SooYoung, you and I will return to the planet and ask them that precise question. Since your brain is impenetrable to even Jaejoong, hopefully the same will hold true with our two unexpected visitors. I will wear the Custos Humanae Vitae…” Yunho paused to ask Jaejoong, “It won’t cause you distress if I wear the necklace, will it?”  
  
“No, you won’t be wearing it, I will,” Jaejoong informed his mate.  
  
 _“You!”_ an alarmed Yunho sent telepathically to his mate, whose hand he still held.  
  
 _“I can’t risk reading their minds, but if a child of mine is jumping dimensions or traveling in time…I have to see them. I know things you do not.”_  
  
“ _But the necklace…won’t it hurt the baby?”  
  
“No, I will place the necklace on my own neck voluntarily and…this time I will not be alone. The baby will be with me…my bond with Changmin won’t be disturbed, and it is strong enough to sustain me.”  
  
“I still feel like I should—”  
  
“Yunho, if he’s from our reality it means…”  
  
“It means we don’t die.”_  
  
Jaejoong shook his head.  _“Or it could just mean…Changmin wasn’t our only child.”_  
  
 _“But wouldn’t another child have died…without one of us?”  
  
“I don’t know, I just don’t know…I might have sent him to my parents on Joong. I keep assigning the rules of the Joong to Changmin…but he was half human. Maybe the human half…made it possible for them to survive without us.”_  
  
Yunho nodded his head and said aloud, “Jaejoong will accompany Lieutenant SooYoung and me to the planet. Since I will not have the necklace on…Lieutenant SooYoung will need to verify all my orders.”  
  
“Yes, Sir,” Kyuhyun replied.  
  
*************************  
  
  
“So you have decided to return to work, how nice of you.”  
  
WooHyun groaned as he entered the exam room to find the very unpleasant Ensign SungYeol from astrophysics glaring at him in open disdain. The first task Dr. Cho had ever assigned to WooHyun was the job of dealing with the ships resident hypochondriac. “I was kinda tied up,” WooHyun said, trying to joke and lighten the atmosphere.  
  
Ensign SungYeol did not laugh. “I believe I have Dippz Disease.”  
  
“Dippz Disease?”  
  
“You don’t even know what it is do you? I do not understand why Dr. Cho has insisted I see you first…you are clearly incompetent.”  
  
“You don’t have Dippz Disease.”  
  
SungYeol scoffed. “How can you presume to diagnose me?”  
  
“Because there is nothing wrong with you,” WooHyun stated. “You are perfectly healthy.”  
  
“Why we let you, a ruffian from a backwards planet, play at being doctor on th—”  
  
SungYeol’s tirade was abruptly ended when a crash was heard outside the exam room. WooHyun quickly turned and headed toward the noise and found Heechul lying on the floor in the sickbay waiting room, convulsing.  
  
WooHyun rushed toward him calling out, “Heechul.”  
  
Heechul said nothing as he writhed on the floor uncontrollably.  
  
“What’s wrong,” WooHyun called out again as he dropped to the floor beside the other man. “Can you hear me?”  
  
Heechul’s eyes rolled back in his head as he reached out and grabbed a hold of the young doctor and let out a loud, blood curdling scream.  
  
“Dr. Cho, you are needed in sickbay now,” WooHyun called out after hitting his insignia. “Heechul, can you hear me?”  
  
“No, not…not me…another…help me,” Heechul yelled out frantically, while clutching the young doctor. “Not me!”  
  
“What’s happening,” Dr. Cho hollered as he rushed into sickbay and hurried to the two men with his scanner out and ready.  
  
“I have no idea,” WooHyun admitted as Heechul slumped in his arms, unconscious.  
  
******************************  
  
“I hate you so much right now,” the blond complained as he sat on the sand on the planet dubbed Desert 37 by the Expectation’s crew.  
  
The boy named Taemin stood beside him. “I know.”  
  
“Why would the Guardian bring us here?”  
  
“It didn’t, we were beamed here.”  
  
“Beamed?”  
  
“It’s the way the Expectations transports people. My dad probably transported us here to prevent us from tampering with the ship.”  
  
“Let’s hope in this reality your daddy isn’t the type to strand us here,” the Joong moaned. “Like I said, I really hate you.”  
  
“I know.”  
  
“Do I still need to keep my mind closed off?”  
  
“Yeah, if they are anything like my parents they will have to investigate.”  
  
“Great!” The blond snapped. “You just had to lose him.”  
  
Taemin glared down at the complaining Joong, and reminded him, “He lost himself.”  
  
“He was a baby.”  
  
“Not technically a baby…he was four or five.”  
  
The blond gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “Well, that is okay then. It’s perfectly acceptable to lose a four or five year old...in all of time and space, and don’t forget about the endless realities.”  
  
“No need to be sarcastic.”  
  
“No need to be stupid.”  
  
“Maybe his memories of being older were intact,” Taemin said hopefully. “Maybe he is messing with me. He might be back home and just waiting for me to return….waiting for me to be grounded  _forever_.”  
  
“Or he could be mentally four…”  
  
“I really hope not.”  
  
“Me too.”  
  
Taemin plopped down on the ground beside his friend. “It makes sense it would stop us on the ship though. He would try to find dad.”  
  
“True, he’s a daddy’s boy, but what about that last stop?”  
  
“That was the Guardian punishing me, I think,” Taemin muttered. “I think it is mad at me.”  
  
The blond swatted him. “Then apologize already!”  
  
Taemin stood and looked up at the sky and spoke, “Great Guardian of Time, I am so sorry! I know you are not a mere transportation device. I promise not to—”  
  
“Promise not to do what?” Yunho asked as he materialized in front of the boys, along with SooYoung and Jaejoong.  
  
“To ever play with the Guardian of time again…” Taemin answered, honestly, looking at the three newly arrived people.  
  
The blond looked at Jaejoong’s belly and stated drily, “I guess now we know what was off about him.”  
  
“Just be quiet,” Taemin warned his friend.  
  
“No, I don’t have to be. If he is pregnant with you I think he should consider terminating the pregnancy! It would spare me a lot of grief!”  
  
“Can you please just stop?” Taemin pleaded.  
  
“Taemin,” Yunho said calmly using the boy’s name as he stepped forward, ignoring the bickering. “Are you in trouble?”  
  
Taemin nodded his head, instantly at ease with Yunho. “I was with someone else…and he got turned into a little kid. He went though the Guardian without me and I can’t find him.”  
  
“So you are looking for this person?” Yunho asked.  
  
“Yes,” Taemin admitted.  
  
“Have you told…have you told your parents…that sounds odd, but have you?” Yunho questioned, realizing how strange the question must seem  
  
“No…I would just get in lots of trouble,” Taemin answered his eyes darting to Jaejoong and then back to Yunho. “We…I…I am not supposed to go near the Guardian.”  
  
“How did you get aboard the ship,” SooYoung asked as she stepped forward to join Yunho. Jaejoong stayed strangely quiet, not moving.  
  
“The Guardian…it transported me to the ship,” Taemin explained. “It is allowing me to travel through it, but it hasn’t allowed me to find…to find who I am searching for. It keeps randomly stopping us in places.”  
  
SooYoung’s eyes widened. “The Guardian is transporting you? Do you not have to be near it?”  
  
“I was originally near it…I don’t think I should say more.”  
  
SooYoung agreed, “Perhaps not.”  
  
“What are you thinking?” Yunho asked as he turned to look at his mate, who had not spoken. The horror-struck look on his mate’s face had Yunho yelling out, “Jaejoong!”  
  
Jaejoong lifted a trembling arm and pointed it at Taemin. “Look at him Yunho…he’s bonded…and he’s about ten years old.”  
  
“No, no, no,” Taemin quickly replied, waving his hands in front of him.  
  
“Yes, you are,” Jaejoong snapped at the son he didn’t know. “I know what a bonded Joong looks like!”  
  
“I am not bonded, I promise!”  
  
“I felt the parent-child bond with you. I didn’t break it! You need to tell me who defiled you….” Jaejoong turned his glare on the young Joong standing with Taemin. “Was it him? I can’t kill him, but I promise to make him wish he was dead.”  
  
The blond jumped up. “No, it wasn’t me! What are you talking about? He’s half human. Like his other sibs he took on a human appearance after a certain age. Plus, he is way older than ten…not that I am saying I am interested in him, because I’m not…but it isn’t like he is  _so_ much younger than I am. I am by no means old!”  
  
“Other sibs…” Yunho repeated.  
  
“Please stop talking,” Taemin pleaded aloud to his friend.  
  
“Me? You are the one answering all of your daddy’s questions! Why don’t you just give him a history lesson and tell her everything that is—”  
  
Both boys vanished instantly without any warning. SooYoung and Yunho both turned to face Jaejoong, who was just staring at the empty space where the boys had been.  
  
“The Guardian took them,” Jaejoong said, answering the unasked question.  
  
Lieutenant SooYoung asked, “Were you able to ascertain if they were from the future or from another reality?”  
  
Jaejoong shook his head. “No.”  
  
“Does the Guardian act like a transportation device to Joong children in this reality?” SooYoung asked.  
  
“Not usually,” Jaejoong answered, but hesitantly added, “But it does grant some Joong unlimited access if it is feeling generous.”  
  
Yunho looked up toward the sky and stated, “The boy was either from another reality…or we somehow avert our approaching doom.”  
  
SooYoung asked, “Explain?”  
  
“He was used to us…he was not raised without us,” Yunho explained. “Taemin knew us, his friend knew us…in whatever reality he came from, he had living parents….he had us.”  
  
“Yes, he knew us,” Jaejoong agreed as he reached up and removed the necklace from his neck. “He knew me; he knew he would be in trouble for going near a Guardian.”  
  
“I agree, he did not act like he had just encountered his dead parents,” SooYoung agreed. “He seemed very accustomed to you.”  
  
“Jaejoong, do you think…what’s wrong?” Yunho asked as he watched an alarmed looking Jaejoong drop the necklace.  
  
Jaejoong’s breathing increased and he whispered, “I am blocked.”  
  
Yunho pulled Jaejoong into his arms. “Completely?”  
  
Jaejoong buried his face in Yunho’s chest. “I don’t feel anything but Changmin…nothing but Changmin…putting on the necklace must have hastened the process…being only exposed to him.”  
  
SooYoung looked at the embracing couple and asked, “How much longer until he is born?”  
  
“We don’t know,” Yunho told her. “It could be days…or it could be months.”  
  
  
***********  
  
“Welcome back aboard,” Lieutenant Donghae greeted as Yunho, Jaejoong, and SooYoung materialized in the transporter room after he beamed them back from the planet.  
  
“Thank you,” Yunho told the Transporter Chief as he stepped off the platform, while still holding on to Jaejoong’s hand.  
  
“Is everything okay, Sir?” Donghae asked after seeing the forlorn look on Jaejoong’s face.  
  
Yunho pulled Jaejoong closer to him and answered, “Everything is fine. The boys have continued their search…for whoever they are searching for.”  
  
“How can you say that?” Jaejoong asked. “How can you say everything is okay? I can’t feel you? I can’t feel anything!”  
  
“That’s not true,” Yunho said, stepping away from Jaejoong to reach up and cup the other man’s face. “You can feel Changmin…this is your time with him. Enjoy it…this is not a punishment…this is a reward. We are still bonded, nothing can change that…we just have to act like a human couple for now.”  
  
Jaejoong looked nauseous at the mere thought.  
  
Yunho grinned. “All Joongs with kids go through it…not just you.”  
  
“I hate it though,” Jaejoong whined.  
  
Yunho’s insignia chirped and he reached up and hit it. “Captain,” Dr. Cho’s voice immediately replied. “You need to get to sickbay.”  
  
“I’m on my way,” Yunho answered. He gave SooYoung a glance and told her, “Return to the bridge and review all the data from our encounters with the boys and the anomaly.”  
  
“Yes, Sir,” SooYoung answered, exiting the room.  
  
“Did Ryeowook sound worried to you?” Jaejoong asked Yunho.  
  
“Slightly,” Yunho agreed as they headed toward sickbay.  
  
Jaejoong let go of the Yunho’s hand. “Normally, I could tell you…but now I am worthless…useless.”  
  
“Jaejoong, surely you don’t think everybody who isn’t telepathic or empathic is useless,” Yunho told his mate as they reached the lift.  
  
“Not everybody,” Jaejoong conceded, “just most everybody.”  
  
“Jaejoong, nobody on this ship is worthless, and also your abilities have been gradually declining for days now…this can’t be too big of a surprise.”  
  
Jaejoong leaned against the lift as it carried them closer to sickbay. “I just don’t like it.”  
  
The lift stopped and the door opened. “You knew it would happen.”  
  
“I did, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Jaejoong insisted as he stepped off the lift with Yunho. “It’s unsettling.”  
  
“You will survive,” Yunho promised and frowned as a thought occurred to him. “You can still heal me, right?”  
  
Jaejoong smirked. “Worried?”  
  
“Yes—no offence, but since I met you it’s been like one traumatic accident after another.”  
  
“I believe that started before you met me,” Jaejoong snapped as they entered Sickbay. “But don’t worry; I can still heal all your boo-boos.”  
  
“You were the one hurt when we first met,” Yunho reminded his mate.  
  
“I was only hurt because I had not healed myself yet.”  
  
“You—” Yunho stopped talking abruptly as he came face to face with Commander Leeteuk, who was smiling fondly at him as he casually leaned against the wall in his uniform.  
  
“Lieutenant Commander Jung, it’s good to see you,” Commander Leeteuk said without any of the madness that had colored all of his words since the disaster that had left him insane.  
  
“Sir?” Yunho responded, uneasily.  
  
Commander Leeteuk nodded his head. “Yes, my sanity has returned.”  
  
“Returned?”  
  
Heechul and Dr. Cho walked into the room and Heechul answered the question, “The second anomaly the ship encountered earlier seems to have had the opposite affect as the first.”  
  
Yunho’s eyes met Ryeowook’s.  
  
A disbelieving Ryeowook explained, “It appears to have cured them. Heechul and Leeteuk…are back…and more are waking up.”


End file.
